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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



jfflamtals of Jfattl) anti £>utj>, 

EDITED BY REV. J. S. CANTWELL, D.D. 



A SERIES of short books in exposition of prominent teachings 
of the Universalist Church, and the moral and religious 
obligations of believers. They are prepared by writers selected for 
their ability to present in brief compass an instructive and helpful 
Manual on the subject undertaken. The volumes will be affirmative 
and constructive in statement, avoiding controversy, while specifically 
unfolding doctrines. 

The Manuals of Faith and Duty are issued at intervals of 
three or four months. Uniform in size, style, and price. 

I. THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. 

By Rev. J. Coleman Adams, D.D., Chicago. 

II. JESUS THE CHRIST. 

By Rev. S. Crane, D.D., Norwalk, O. 

III. REVELATION. 

By Rev. I. M. At wood, D.D., President of the Theological 
School, Canton, N. Y. 

IV. CHRIST IN THE LIFE. 

By Rev. Warren S. Woodbridge, Adams, Mass. 

V. SALVATION. 

By Rev. Orello Cone, D.D., President of Buchtel College, 
Akron, O. 

VI. THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

By Rev. Charles Follen Lee, Charlestown, Mass. 

No. VII. of this series will be "The Saviour of the World," 
by Rev. C. E. Nash, Akron, O. Other volumes and writers will 
be announced hereafter. 

published by the 

UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE, 

BOSTON, MASS. 
Western Branch: 69 Dearborn Street, Chicago. 



JKanuals of jFaitij ano ©utg. 

. No. VI. 

THE 

BIRTH FROM ABOVE 






BY 



REV. CHARLES FOLLEN LEE. 



Except a man be born again [or from above] he cannot 
see the kingdom of god. 

John iii. 3. 



BOSTON: 
UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE. 

1889. 




.Mr 



Copyright, 1889, 
By the Universalist Publishing House. 



Tip Lir k ky 
ot Congress 



WASHINGTON 



SSm'bersita $ress : 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 






a! 

3 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 
Chapter P AGE 

I. Christ and Nicodemus — a startling 

Declaration 7 

II. The Jewish Doctrine of the New Birth 11 

III. The Holy Spirit 13 

IV. Man a Moral Being 18 

V. The Kingdom of God 22 

VI. The Necessity of the Birth from Above 25 

VII. "HOW CAN THESE THINGS Be V " . . . . 29 

VIII. The Witness of the Spirit 35 

IX. Conversion and the Work of the Holy 

Spirit 45 

X. Illustrative Examples 53 

XI. The Secret Work of the Holy Spirit . 66 

XII. Times of Spiritual Awakening .... 71 

XIII. Privileges of the Life from Above . . 82 

XIV. Growth in the Life from Above ... 91 
Conclusion 99 



<& Source of uncreated ligfyt, 
W)t JFatijer's promises paraclete ! 
Wqxitz fyolg fount, ttyrice fjolg fire, 
Our ijearts bjitij fyeabenlg iota inspire ; 
(£ome, antJ 2Ei)g sacrefc unction bring 
3To sanctifg us, barFjile be sing* 

plenteous of grace, tiescenti from fjigij, 

Eic!) in ^Tfjs seoen4ol& energg ! 

&f)ou strength of f§is &lmigt)tg fyanti, 

OTtyose potoer fcoes Ijeaben anti eartfy commanti; 

•Proceeding Spirit, our defence, 

SHijo Uost tfye gift of tongues dispense, 

'EnU croton'st 2H)g gift toitij eloquence, 

JHake us etrrnal trutljs receioe, 
&n& practise all tfjat toe belieoe: 
dRtbe us &fjgself, ifjat toe mag see 
&fje JFatijer anti tfje Son bg &ljee* 

From the Veni, Creator Spiritus, commonly ascribed 
to Gregory the Great. — Dryderts Paraphrase. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

THE phrase " New Birth " is one with which 
the reader is doubtless familiar; for the 
subject to which it relates is one of the most 
important with which the Gospel deals, one 
that from the days of the Infant Church has 
called forth innumerable treatises and sermons, 
and consequently one upon which Christian 
conversation is very apt to turn. It was, then, 
both natural and desirable that this subject 
should be discussed in the series of manuals to 
which this little book belongs, and it is the 
writer's hope and prayer that what follows may 
be found useful by all who favor him with their 
attention. 

It will no doubt be asked by some, " Why 
was not this manual entitled The New Birth?" 
The answer is, because The Birth from Above 



6 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

was considered a more comprehensive and sug- 
gestive title. We have no quarrel with the 
phrase " New Birth," but we are satisfied that 
the one we shall substitute for it deserves the 
preference. In the Scriptural passage most 
often cited in connection with the subject of 
which we are to treat, it has the sanction of the 
original, as the marginal reading, both in the 
Common Version and in the Revision, bears 
witness ; and we feel that upon due reflec- 
tion our choice of a title will commend itself 
to all. Thus the Greek word rendered again 
in the Common Version and anew in the Re- 
vision, may, With equal correctness, be rendered 
from above. 1 The reader will perceive, then, 
that to say a man must be " born from above," 
if he would "see," or "enter into," the King- 
dom of God, means, not only that he must be 
born again or anew, but that, as our Lord 
teaches, his re-birth involves heavenly agencies, 
or the operations of the Holy Spirit. 

1 John iii. 3, 7. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 7 

I. — Christ and Nicodemus. — a startling 

DECLARATION. 

Let us turn to one of the most impressive and 
fruitful chapters in the Evangelical Narratives, 
— that recording the conversation of our Lord 
with Nicodemus the Pharisee, " a ruler of the 
Jews," that is to say, a member of the Sanhe- 
drim, or High Council of the Jewish nation. 1 It 
is night, an hour that the Pharisee may have 
chosen, not merely for prudential reasons, but 
also because it offers the most favorable oppor- 
tunity for an interview with the " Teacher " 
whom he believes to have " come from God." 
The labors, heat, and turmoil of the day are 
over, and amid the ensuing calm and silence, 
so grateful to meditation, the body allows the 
soul to enjoy its sovereignty undisturbed. So, 
seated by the Master, a little apart, we may 
believe, from the disciples, Nicodemus opens a 
conversation that is to be handed down by Saint 
John through all succeeding time. Never has 
Nicodemus been so stirred ; never has the sol- 
emn night awakened within him such searching 
questions ; never has he been so mightily 

1 John iii. 1-21. 



8 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

wrought upon by another ; and bending his 
inquiring eye upon the majestic and yet sym- 
pathetic face before him, he says : " Rabbi, 
we know that thou art a teacher come from 
God, for no one can do the miracles that thou 
doest, except God be with him." 

Thus the memorable conversation opens. 
Thus does the Pharisee broach a subject that 
doubtless of late has occupied a large share of 
his attention, his burning desire being to know 
more about this wonderful Person whose words 
and works are the theme upon which thousands 
of tongues are dwelling. 

And what says the Master, this " Teacher 
come from God," as Nicodemus eagerly awaits 
His response ? " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, 
except a man be born again, he cannot see the 
Kingdom of God." A startling declaration 
truly, whether understood or not, to one who, 
like this Pharisee, is seeking to learn from the 
Great Teacher's own lips the secret of His 
power and the object of His labors among men. 
Nicodemus feels that Jesus has divined his 
thoughts, and that what has just been said must 
be preparatory to his enlightenment on the sub- 
ject that is uppermost in his mind ; and yet he 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 9 

is puzzled to know what the Master means. 
What has one's being born again to do with the 
question, " Who is this Jesus of Nazareth, and 
what is he trying to do ? " And then, too, how 
can one be born again? Surely he has not been 
asked to believe that a physical re-birth is possi- 
ble. He is puzzled, we repeat, and at the same 
time startled. He has enough confidence in 
the wisdom of this Person to feel that He un- 
derstands what He is saying, and that it is he, 
the questioner and would-be disciple, who is at 
fault ; and yet these are strange words that he 
has heard. So he rejoins, and we may believe 
with mingled curiosity and timidity, " How can 
a man be born when he is old ? " whereupon 
Jesus, who is preparing the Pharisee's mind for 
the reception of the great truth that He would 
have to take root in it, says, and even more im- 
pressively than ever, " Verily, verily, I say unto 
thee, except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of 
God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; 
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be 
born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, 
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 



10 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

not tell whence it cometh, and whither it go- 
eth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
Nieodeinus now partially understands the Mas- 
ter. A gleam of light flashes in upon him. 
What is meant is this: that he who would 
enter into and enjoy the privileges of the King- 
dom of Heaven of which this new Teacher 
claims to be the Founder and Ruler must un- 
dergo an inward change through the operation 
of influences that may be fitly likened to the 
invisible movements of the wind. But still the 
Pharisee's mind is not clear. Why should he, 
a son of the Abrahamic Covenant, need a " new 
birth," or a " birth from above," to prepare him 
for citizenship in the Messiah's Kingdom ? and 
then, what is it to be "born of the Spirit?" 
A gleam of light, as has been said, has flashed 
in upon him ; but he is still far from being like 
one around whom shines the full-orbed radiance 
of day. 

As it was with Nicodemus, so it has been 
with multitudes since his time ; and so it is 
with multitudes now. Far better acquainted 
as the modern inquirer into Christianity may 
be than was that Jewish " doctor of the law" 
with the purpose that brought our Lord into 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 11 

the world, the declaration made to the Pharisee 
may sound hardly less startling to him or her 
who for the first time seriously considers it. 
What does to be " born again " or " from 
above" mean? Is it a mere figure of speech, 
or is it symbolical of some high and solemn 
truth that must be mastered at any cost of 
mental effort? Such a questioner feels sure 
that, since it is Jesus Himself who declares 
this, it is not to be passed over as if, like so 
many declarations that one hears, it had no 
strong claim upon the attention. Coming from 
such a source, it must mean something, and, 
therefore, what does it mean? "How," as 
Nicodemus asked, " can these things be ? " 

II. — The Jewish Doctrine of the New 

Birth. 

To answer the question, " How can these 
things be?" we need here to remember that 
our Lord invented no new phrase when He 
spoke of a man as undergoing a second birth. 
Nicodemus had often heard such a phrase. 
When a Gentile was converted to Judaism, it 
was said that he had been " born again " or 
" anew." He was received into the fold of 



12 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

Israel by baptism as well as by the submission 
of himself to certain imperative requirements 
of the ceremonial law, — his baptism signifying 
the supposed washing of his soul to cleanse it 
from defilement. 1 Hence water was a most ex- 
pressive symbol to the Jews of. that day. Its 
use in the case of a proselyte was the sign of 
what was hoped to be an inward fact. John 
the Baptist caused his disciples to submit them- 
selves to the rite, 2 and, although the Pharisees 
criticised him for so doing, 3 there was nothing 
about the rite itself that was difficult to under- 
stand. The difficulty was that a Jew should 
be asked to conform to it. And that was in 
part the difficulty with Nicodemus. Like his 
brother Pharisees, it seemed strange that, under 

1 " He (Nicodemus) inquired how the language of Jesus could 
be literally true, — not because he was ignorant of its usual 
figurative meaning, but because he could imagine no proper 
application of that meaning to the Jews. ' It may seem remark- 
able that Nicodemus understood our Saviour literally, when 
the expression to be born again was in common use among, the 
Jews, to denote a change from Gentilism to Judaism by be- 
coming a proselyte by baptism. The word with them meant 
a change from the state of a heathen to that of a Jew. But 
they never used it as applicable to a Jew, because tliey sup- 
posed that by his birth he was entitled to all the privileges 
of the people of God.' — Barnes." Paige's Comment, on 
John iii. 4. 

2 Matt. iii. 1-6. 3 j hn i. 25. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 13 

any circumstances, Israelites should have to be 
baptized. But this was not the sole difficulty 
with him. The additional phrase, " of the 
Spirit," greatly perplexed this seeker after 
truth. He could not conceive what it meant, 
and he doubtless went away asking himself 
over and over again, " What is it to be ' born 
of the Spirit ' ? " Yet we may believe that he 
left the Saviour's presence with the leaven of 
new and quickening thoughts working in his 
mind. He was now, although in secret, a dis- 
ciple of the Christ, — a learner, that is, in His 
school. For it will be remembered that he 
defended Jesus in the Sanhedrim when our 
Lord's enemies sought to have Him arrested, 1 
and that, in company with Joseph of Arimathea, 
he provided interment for the Teacher whom he 
had come to honor and love. 2 

III. — The Holy Spirit. 

Having seen what to be " born again " meant 
to the Jew, we are now prepared to consider 
what it means to the enlightened Christian, 
especially as it conveys to his mind the enkind- 
ling thought of Divine power co-operating 
1 John vii. 50-52. 2 John xix. 38-42. 



14 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

with faith in the work of drawing men toward 
God. And, setting about this grateful task, it 
is obvious that the first thing to be done is to 
inquire into the meaning of the phrase so often 
met with in Scripture, — the Spirit. 

Among the first words upon which the eye 
falls, as it turns to the opening chapter of Holy 
Writ, are these : " And the earth was without 
form and void ; and darkness was upon the face 
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved up- 
on the face of the waters ; " 2 while, as we near 
the close of the Vision of St. John the Divine, 
we read, " And the Spirit and the bride say, 
Come." 2 Between these two passages, the fur- 
ther and the hither shore, as it were, of the 
ocean of recorded Revelation, there are, in our 
English Version, few words of more frequent 
occurrence than "Spirit," " Holy Spirit," and 
" Holy Ghost." In the Hebrew the word thus 
rendered Spirit is ruach, wind. In the Greek, 
the primary signification is the same. The Greek 
for Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost is the same in 
each instance, for which reason the American 
members of the Revision Committee wished to 
have the phrase uniformly rendered Holy Spirit. 
1 Genesis i. 2. 2 Revelation xxii. 17. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 15 

Thus we are told that, " the Spirit of the Lord 
came upon David," * and that " the Spirit of 
the Lord departed from Saul." 2 Thus the 
Psalmist sings, " Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, 
they are created ; and Thou renewest the face 
of the earth." 3 Thus, speaking of the " Rod " 
that shall come forth " out of the stem of Jesse," 
the greatest of the poet-seers declares that " the 
Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him." 4 Thus 
the Herald-Baptist, prophesying of the " One 
mightier " than himself who " cometh," says to 
the listening multitude, " He shall baptize you 
with the Holy Ghost and with fire." 5 Thus we 
read that at the baptism of Jesus " the Holy 
Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove 
upon Him ; " and thus our Lord, issuing His 
parting orders to His apostles, says, " Go ye 
therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all na- 
tions, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teach- 
ing them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world." 6 

1 1 Samuel xvi. 13. 2 Ibid. 14. 8 p sa lms civ. 30. 

4 Isaiah xi. 2. 5 Luke iii. 16, 22. 

6 Matthew xxviii. 19, 20. 



16 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

Scripture abounds with passages like these, all 
of which point to the belief of the Hebrew and 
the Christian in a personal wisdom and power 
to which the name of Spirit, or to distinguish it 
from the spirit that dwells in man, the Holy 
Spirit, is reverently given. 

There is, then, in the language of the Old 
Testament, a " Spirit of the Lord," or, in that 
of the New Testament, a " Holy Spirit ; " and 
therefore every one that accepts the guidance 
of Scripture ought to be able to affirm with the 
oldest of the written creeds of Christendom, "I 
believe in the Holy Ghost." 1 Furthermore, 
whatever other teaching under this head such a 
person may feel compelled to reject, he or she, 
it seems to us, ought to be able to believe that 
the Holy Spirit is God at work in nature and 
the human soul as a creative, sustaining, gov- 
erning, enlightening, and regenerating Power. 
When the Psalmist, in the words just quoted, 
says, " Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are 
created : and Thou renewest the face of the 
earth," he is thinking of God as the informing 
Life and Energy of Nature and her myriad crea- 
tures ; and when the Apostle says, " The Spirit 
1 Vid. Apostles' Creed. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 17 

itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we 
are the children of God," 1 he can mean nothing 
less than that God is present in the souls of 
himself and his brethren, and is speaking to 
them in a language that is not wholly unintelli- 
gible. Hence the phrase " Holy Spirit " is not 
a convenient rhetorical figure, but the symbol 
of an eternal Verity. When Scripture speaks 
of a " Spirit of the Lord " or of a " Holy Spirit," 
it means precisely what it says, — that there is 
such a Spirit, and that this Spirit is none other 
than God Himself, who is a Spirit, 2 presiding as 
a Spirit over the affairs of the physical world, 
and potently present in the soul of man, the 
greatest of His works. 

Thus, to answer the question of Nicodemus, 
" How can "these things be ? " — how can one 
be " born again " or " from above ? " — one must 
believe that there is a Holy Spirit to make such 
a re-birth possible. The same mode of reason- 
ing that leads us to regard physical phenomena 
as the manifestation of a Higher Power impels 
us to attribute spiritual life in man to the same 
adorable Source. Everything, we say, is the 
product of some cause, and consequently if there 

1 Romans viii. 16. 2 John iv. 21. 

2 



18 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

is such a thing as spiritual life, it, as well as 
anything else, must have a cause. What, then, 
can that cause be but the Holy Spirit ? What 
else can be adequate to its production ? The 
Christian thinker rejoins, " Nothing," and so 
speaks of the Holy Spirit as the " Author and 
Giver of Life " in the highest and fullest sense 
in which the word " life " can be used. 

IV. — Man a Moral Being. 

But, as there can be no spiritual life without 
a Holy Spirit, so man can know nothing of such 
life unless he has a nature in which it can be 
developed. Accordingly, if we cannot believe 
that man is something more than so much finely 
organized matter, it is useless to discuss the 
possibility of a "birth from above." If he be 
nothing but a higher animal, the words of Jesus 
to Nicodemus deal with figments of the imagi- 
nation and not with commanding facts, and 
serve only to illustrate one of a number of doc- 
trines which, however venerable and however 
widely received, have no solid basis of truth. 

We shall not attempt to prove that man is a 
moral being, but assume that he is one. The 
purpose of this treatise is not to combat unbe- 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 19 

lief, but to exhibit a wholesome doctrine to 
those who profess to accept the teachings of 
Christ and His Apostles. Moreover, however 
strongly tempted we might be to enter into an 
argument with those who deny that man is a 
moral being, we should be withheld from so do- 
ing by the limited space at our disposal, which 
forbids us to do anything more than to present 
the doctrine of the u Birth from Above " as we 
understand it. 

Christian philosophy is wont to recognize a 
threefold division in human nature, and hence 
speaks of man as having a body, a soul, and a 
spirit. This triple division of man occurs fre- 
quently in ancient authors. 1 The body is the 
animal part of us, and reminds us of our phys- 
ical relationship to the brute creation. The 
soul is the intellectual and immortal principle 
within us, — that which in our eyes distinguishes 
us from an ox, a dog, or a bird. The spirit 
represents what is higher than the soul, as the 
soul does what is higher than the body, — the 
divinest fact about us, the entity by means of 
which we can commune with Him who made 
us, and of whom we speak as " the Father of 

1 See Krauth, " Vocabulary of Philosophy," p. 477. 



20 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

spirits." The spirit may in truth be called the 
soul of the soul, and is that part of us that must 
be quickened and educated, if religious life, in 
the finer sense, is to be enjoyed b} 7 us. All men 
live in the body and the. soul ; but all men do 
not live in the spirit, at least consciously, and 
it is therefore to this kind of life that Jesus re- 
fers when He says, u Except a man be born 
again (or from above), he cannot see the King- 
dom of God." This is what He means by 
" eternal life," and the potency of which He 
would impress upon us when He says, "I am 
come that they might have life, and that they 
might have it more abundantly." 1 Says the 
late Rev. F. W. Robertson, as he speaks of this 
threefold division of human nature, and ex- 
pounds the words of St. Paul, " And I pray 
God your whole spirit and soul and body be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our 
Lord Jesus Christ : " 2 " The third division " — 
he has previously spoken of the other two — 
" the third division of which the apostle speaks, 
he calls the ' spirit ; ' and by the spirit he means 
that life in man which, in his natural state, is 
in such an embryo condition that it can scarcely 

1 John x. 10, 2 1 Thessalonians v. 23. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 21 

be said to exist at all, — that which is called oat 
into power and vitality by regeneration, the 
perfection of the powers of human nature. And 
you will observe, that is not merely the instinc- 
tive life, nor the intellectual life, nor the moral 
life, but it is principally our nobler affections, — 
that existence, that state of being which we call 
love." i 

Hence, because man is a moral being and as 
such contains within him the generous possi- 
bilities of spiritual life, the Holy Spirit engages 
in no hopeless task in seeking to arouse him to 
a recognition of his higher duty as a rational 
creature. His spiritual nature may be steeped 
in drowsiness ; it may resemble that deadly con- 
dition known as coma, when the patient is 
wholly unconscious, and those about him al- 
most despair of him ; but still there is a spirit- 
ual principle within him, and it is possible to 
arouse it into activity. There is something to 
work upon, and accordingly the Holy Spirit 
only attempts what has already been made 
possible in striving to quicken that something 
into consciousness, and cause it to play its 
proper part in the realm of higher life. 

1 Sermon iv. Third Series. 



22 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

V. — The Kingdom of God. 

At this point we need to inquire what is to 
be understood by that "Kingdom of God" 
which we are told that a man cannot " see * : 
or " enter into," unless he be " born from 
above." The phrase u Kingdom of God," or its 
equivalent, " Kingdom of Heaven," is of fre- 
quent occurrence in Christian Scripture, and, 
though often misinterpreted, its meaning ought 
not to escape us. It is applied, on the one 
hand, to that Society which our Lord came into 
the world to establish, and to which we com- 
monly give the name of Christian Church, and, 
on the other, to that reign of truth and righteous- 
ness on earth which the Church is designed to 
image forth and advance, and which the Saviour 
seeks to make universal through the acceptance 
of His Gospel. Thus He referred to the Church, 
or Divine organization of which He was the 
Head, when, commenting on the unwillingness 
of the young man who " had great possessions " 
to relinquish them all and follow Him, He said, 
" How hardly" — that is, with what difficulty 
— " shall they that have riches enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven," — become, that is, a 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 23 

faithful and useful member of a society which, 
in that day, demanded a complete severance 
from all worldly ties and cares, that the work 
of the Gospel might be freely prosecuted. 1 
Thus, again, Christ referred to His Church 
when, prophesying the acceptance of the Gospel 
by the Gentiles, He said : " And they shall 
come from the east, and from the west, and 
from the north, and from the south, and shall 
sit down in the Kingdom of God." 2 But in 
passages such as the following the phrase refers 
to the principles of the Gospel as they take up 
their abode in the human breast, and dominate 
the life. " Seek ye first the Kingdom of God 
and his righteousness, and all these things shall 
be added unto you ; " 3 " The Kingdom of God 
cometh not with observation. Neither shall 
they say, Lo here ! or, Lo there ! for behold, 
the Kingdom of God is within you ; " 4 " The 
Kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." 5 Here the spiritual side of the Divine 
Kingdom is dwelt upon, and we are asked to 
think of it more especially as embracing those 

1 Mark x. 23. Matt. xix. 23-24. 2 Luke xiii. 29. 

8 Matt. vi. 33. * Luke xvii. 20. 5 Romans xiv. 17. 



24 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

whose hearts have been purified and exalted, 
and brought into loving communion with the 
Great Heart of the universe. It is what the 
Church of Christ, or visible Kingdom of God 
bears witness to, as it goes forth " conquering 
and to conquer," reminding us that God, by 
His Spirit, is at work among men, and is sub- 
duing them unto Himself. 

In His conversation with Nicodemus, our 
Lord, we think, used in turn the phrase "King- 
dom of God " in each of the senses that we 
have specified. When He said, " Except a man 
be born again " — or from above — " he cannot 
see the Kingdom of God," He referred, we con- 
ceive, to the Society which He was organizing, 
the existence of which, as a Divine fact, one 
who had not undergone a re-birth could not 
recognize, and into intellectual and spiritual 
sympathy with which he could not come ; where- 
as, when He said, " Except a man be born of 
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
Kingdom of God," He seems to have been refer- 
ring to His Church, as a visible institution, and 
to have been indicating what was necessary, if 
a man were to be admitted to its privileges, and 
be regarded a worthy partaker of them. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 25 

VI. — The Necessity of the Birth from 

Above. 

We come now to the question of supreme 
importance in connection with the subject be- 
fore us : Why must a man be born from above, 
if he would see and enter into the Kingdom of 
God? This question the Saviour answers thus: 
" That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and 
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit ; " and 
then adds, " Marvel not that I say unto thee, 
Ye must be born again." 

" The natural man," says Saint Paul, u receiv- 
eth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they 
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know 
them, because they are spiritually discerned." l 
The " natural man " is the physical and social 
man, living wholly in the senses, or, if his mind 
be active, giving little or no thought to any- 
thing, save what is seen and felt. He has, as 
we have said, a moral nature, and that nature 
is capable of being spiritually quickened ; but 
is dormant. It has not yet awakened to a 
realization of what to the religious person is 
a fact, — that there is a God, and a God who 

1 1 Corinthians ii. 14. 



26 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

asks His rational creatures to acknowledge His 
existence and obey Him. Such a man may, 
and probably will, admit that there is a Supreme 
Being; he may even call himself a Christian, 
for the name Christian is often most improperly 
appropriated and bestowed, — but he has no 
spiritual life. He " receiveth not the things of 
the Spirit of God," since he knows not what 
they are. " They are foolishness unto him." 
When he hears words like those spoken to 
Nicodemus, he marvels at them. He cannot 
imagine what they mean. The language of 
thoughtful Christians often sounds almost for- 
eign to him. What are these " experiences " 
of which they speak? What are the "joys" 
about which they talk ? When they thus con- 
verse, he feels as much out of place in their 
company as an unpoetic man would feel in the 
society of poets, or a man with no knowledge 
of, or natural taste for art, in the society of 
painters and sculptors. He may be wise enough 
to perceive that they are discoursing of realities 
of which he unfortunately knows nothing ; but 
it is quite as likely that he will think that they 
are dealing in nonsense, and consequently that 
they have nothing whatever to teach him. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 27 

Hence the necessity that the " natural man " 
shall be born from above, if the " things of the 
Spirit " are not to remain " foolishness unto 
him." Not until he has himself undergone what 
Christian people have undergone will he under- 
stand and share their happiness. And par- 
ticularly is this true with respect to what such 
people are in character, — that is, with respect 
to their devotion to Divine truth, to their un- 
selfish love for what is pure and noble, and their 
willing labors in behalf of others. They will 
be more or less of an enigma to him, and he 
will be continually asking himself, " What is 
the secret of their conduct ? Why do they feel 
what I do not feel, and do what I have no 
inclination to do ? " 

It cannot be denied that the majority of those 
about us are in the condition of the " natural 
man." They may be "very good people," as 
the saying goes, and have many admirable 
traits ; but religion, as the Christian under- 
stands the term, is a mystery to them. The 
higher realm of faith, hope, and love is as far 
above that with which they are familiar as the 
mountains are above the plains that behold 
them from afar. Indeed, they are not aware 



28 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

that there is such a realm. It is not only an 
unexplored, but an undiscovered country to 
them. They must be " born from above " 
before they can know anything about it. As it 
was necessary for them to be born in the flesh 
before they could have rational existence in the 
world of matter, and behold and 'rejoice in the 
beauty and glory of nature, so they must be 
born in the spirit before they can become con- 
scious that there is a spiritual world, and one in 
which, as the children of the Everlasting Father, 
it is their high privilege to live. Well, then, 
might our blessed Lord say, " That which is 
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born 
of the Spirit is spirit ; v ' and well might He 
add, " Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye 
must be born again." No truth more solemn 
and sublime ever fell from His holy lips ; and 
no one who has not mastered this truth has 
attained unto the higher summits of Christian 
thought and feeling, — in other words, of Chris- 
tian life. This, we trust, is asserted in all 
humility, without any admixture of self-right- 
eousness. Our reason for the assertion is a deep 
and settled conviction of what we regard as eter- 
nally true. " The natural man receiveth not the 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 29 

things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolish- 
ness unto him: neither can he know them, 
because they are spiritually discerned." He 
must be " born again," or "from above," if he 
would "see" and " enter into," the Kingdom 
of God. 



VII. — "How Can These Things Be? 



9? 



But still again, as Nicodemus would say, 
" How can these things be ? " By what means 
can a man be " born from above " ? An answer 
is found in the words, "Except a man be born 
of ivater and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
the Kingdom of God." Let us consider what 
this answer involves, and first, why our Lord 
should speak of ivater. 

We have seen how, among the Jews, baptism 
by water signified a change of mind and heart, 
symbolizing the new relations in which the 
convert stood to God and to the body of be- 
lievers with whom he had associated himself. 
He had become cleansed, it was hoped, from 
the sins, follies, and errors of the past, and had 
solemnly dedicated his life to the service of the 
Holy One of Israel. This ordinance Jesus re- 
tained, and with those who believe in Him as the 



30 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

Christ its retention should be a sufficient reason 
why they should willingly submit to it, and in 
the manner prescribed by Him, when, sending 
forth His Apostles to the moral conquest of the 
world, He said, " Go ye therefore, and teach 
(make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost." 1 Such was the command 
of Him whom we call " the Way and the 
Truth and the Life ; " and w r hether one regard 
the use of water in baptism as a mere sign or 
symbol, or as something in itself efficacious, it 
is a command that should be loyally and lovingly 
obeyed. 

It was impossible that our Lord should 
enjoin anything that was useless, — that he 
should require of His followers more than was 
right. There was a divine reason for every- 
thing He did, and He could have imposed no 
ordinance that was not in closest sympathy with 
the needs of them whom He had come to heal 
and to save. As in the Old Dispensation water 
had been the symbol of purification, so, and in 
a much larger and finer sense, it was to be in 
the New, becoming to the true believer the 
1 Matthew xxviii. 19. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 31 

"outward and visible sign of an inward and 
spiritual grace." 

Nor should we forget that our Lord Himself 
was baptized, at the hands of His great forerun- 
ner, the last of the Hebrew prophets. 1 Despite 
the expostulations of the Baptist, He requested 
this to be done, because He was man's immacu- 
late Exemplar. Whatever else baptism meant 
in His case, it certainly meant that He asked no 
more of others than He was ready to do Him- 
self; and he who acknowledges Jesus as his 
Teacher and Saviour should not refuse to follow 
Him in this. " The disciple is not above his 
Master, nor the servant above his Lord." 2 

But our Lord speaks of being " born of water 
and of the Spirit" More than water is neces- 
sary if one is to be " born again," or regener- 
ated. One's higher nature must be quickened 
and developed by power from above, if he is to 
become what the Apostle calls a " new creature 
(creation) in Christ." 3 Hence the need of the 
Holy Spirit, without whose aid regeneration is 
impossible. How this aid is rendered, what the 
process is by means of which a new life is born 

1 Matthew iii. 13-17. 2 Ibid, x 24. 

3 2 Corinthians v. 17. 



32 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

within us, we do not know. It is one of those 
mysteries that we strive in vain to comprehend. 
But its being a mystery is no reason why we 
should refuse to believe in it, any more than 
that we should believe in it simply because it is 
a mystery. It is enough that Christ teaches 
that there is a heavenly reality underlying it, 
and that we are able to recognize that reality 
in what is wrought out in ourselves and others. 
Light and heat are mysteries ; and yet we know 
them to be facts. The operation of the Holy 
Spirit in man is impenetrably mysterious ; and 
yet every one who is sensible of an indwell- 
ing grace through the visitation of the Spirit, 
and who beholds in fellow mortals the un- 
deniable evidences of the same regenerating 
process, knows that, mysterious as that pro- 
cess is, it is a fact, and one of the most joyous 
and blessed facts that can fill the soul with 
awe and wonder, and inspire gratitude and 
praise. 

Let no one, then, be repelled from the Scrip- 
tural doctrine of regeneration, because it in- 
volves a mystery, since such an objection holds 
equally good in the case of other doctrines set 
forth in Scripture, and reverently accepted by 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 33 

our reason. We believe in God as an everlast- 
ing, self-existent personality, the Creator and 
Preserver of all things visible and invisible, in 
whom " we live and move and have our be- 
ing ; " 2 yet when are we confronted by so be- 
wildering and overpowering a mystery as when 
we think of the Godhead, and try to conceive 
what it is like ? We believe in Jesus the Christ, 
as the Son of God and the Son of Man, as one 
wholly without sin, the only perfect being who 
has ever trod the earth ; and yet what a mys- 
tery we have in Him ! Nay, what a standing 
marvel He is, even to them who deny His Di- 
vine origin and superhuman powers, and yet 
believe Him to be an historical personage. 
Theodore Parker said of our Lord : " I do not 
believe in the perfection of Jesus, that He had 
no faults of character, was never mistaken, 
never angry, never out of humor, never de- 
jected, never despairing." 2 And yet this 
gifted iconoclast must have felt that there 
was such a mystery about Jesus as there was 
about no other person who has appeared in 

1 Acts xviii. 28. 

2 Selections from Theodore Parker's Unpublished Sermons, 
Eng. ed., 1865, p. 2U. 

3 



34 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

the flesh, when he wrote the hvmn beginning 
with, — 

" O thou great Friend to all the sons of men." 
and ending with this stanza : — 

" Yes, thou art still the Life, thou art the Way, 

The holiest know ; Light, Life, the Way of heaven ! 
And they who dearest hope and deepest pray 

Toil by the Light, Life, Way, which thou hast given." 

So, too, we not only believe but know that 
there are such facts as the Universe and the 
life that we are living in it ; and yet what mys- 
teries rise up before us when we look around 
and within, and ask, " What mean these 
things?" There is not an object that greets 
the eye, be it a blade of grass, or a falling leaf, 
that does not enshrine wonders too deep for a 
Linnseus or a Newton. 

" Flower in the crannied wall," 
muses Tennyson, 

" I pluck you out of the crannies, — 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower ; but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is." 

Here, there, and everywhere do mysteries ac- 
cost us, and therefore why should we refuse to 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 35 

credit what Scripture teaches when it declares 
that, by a mysterious process that ever eludes 
our sight and touch, gifts are conferred upon us 
that make us the citizens of a spiritual kingdom, 
and the heirs of favors which " eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
the heart of man " ? * 

VIII. — The Witness of the Spirit. 

We may believe, then, on the authority of 
Scripture that there is such a thing as a " birth 
from above," endowing us with a life far differ- 
ent from that with which we enter the world. 
But there is still another reason why we may so 
believe, and that is supplied by what St. Paul 
calls " the witness of the Spirit," 2 which he ap- 
peals to in support of his assertion that he and 
his fellow disciples are children of God, and to 
which we, convinced with him that there is such 
a witness, would also appeal. 

What is this " witness " of which the Apostle 
speaks? It is, we conceive, — 

1. First, an inward assurance that there is a 
God, who is ever with His creatures, and who, 
doing all things well, may be freely trusted, and 

1 1 Corinthians ii. 9. 2 Romans viii. 16. 



36 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

in the darkest and most trying hour. There is, 
of course, in the case of every thoughtful be- 
liever, an intellectual conviction of the truth of 
what Scripture affirms ; but the assurance of 
which we speak is more than such a conviction. 
It is a strong, irrepressible feeling, which cannot 
be adequately defined, that, when one declares 
his faith in things unseen, he is standing on the 
solid ground of truth. Even though he be de- 
ficient in the logical faculty, and be easily 
tripped up by a dextrous antagonist, the feeling 
still remains that he is in the truth. His con- 
fidence in the correctness of his position does 
not depend upon syllogisms. He is satisfied 
that he should believe in God and His Provi- 
dence, should he be worsted in every theological 
encounter, and though everything in nature and 
outward experience should seem to contradict 
his creed. With the long-suffering and unfal- 
tering Job he exclaims, " Though He slay me, 
yet will I trust in Him ! " 1 and with the stead- 
fast Apostle he declares, " I know whom I have 
believed. " 2 

Now this assurance of which we have spoken 
is a part of " the witness of the Spirit " that he 
i Job xiii. 15. 2 Timothy i. 12. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 37 

who has been "born from above" is not under 
the spell of a fond delusion, but is believing in 
One who does exist, and who is worthy of his 
best service. It is not the result of an obstinate 
determination to believe, regardless of aught 
that may be urged to the contrary, nor is it the 
result of blind credulity. It is a spiritual ex- 
perience of the truth, and as such is the Spirit's 
witness to the truth. It is not something that 
one secures by himself, but something that 
the Spirit confers. It belongs to that order of 
gifts of which Saint Paul speaks, when he says, 
" The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance." 1 

2. Again, " the witness of the Spirit," af- 
firming the reality of a " birth from above," 
is afforded the faithful disciple in those mo- 
ments when his thoughts and feelings are more 
than ordinarily elevated, when his inner outlook 
is fairer and more commanding, when a joy is 
his which he cannot translate into words, and 
a deep, ineffable content steals over him that 
banishes all fear and sorrow. It is not the mood 
of the warm enthusiast, who, easily wrought 

1 Galatians v. 22, 23. 



38 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

upon, has become emotionally aroused, his ej T e, 
like the poet's, 

" in a fine frenzy rolling." 

It is a mood characterized by clear perception, 
calm reflection, and quiet gladness, that would 
be disturbed and broken up by noise and dem- 
onstration. It may be preceded by participation 
in some act of worship, in which one has been 
wholly absorbed, or it may follow in the train 
of an agonizing trial, when, for a time, his soul, 
like the Psalmist's, has been cast down, and he 
has cried, " All Thy waves and Thy billows 
are gone over me ! " l but whatever others 
might think and say, he knows what that ex- 
perience is and what it means. God, by the 
Spirit, is speaking to him ; he is favored with 
a foretaste, however small, of the joy and glory 
yet to come ; " the peace of God which passeth 
all understanding " 2 is his ; and he can no 
more doubt the report of his spiritual senses 
than he can doubt his own identity as a being 
clothed in flesh and blood. In a word, the 
" witness of the Spirit " is his, and so unmis- 
takably, that he feels that it would be sinful 
not to acknowledge that blessed fact, and 

1 Psalms xlii. 7. 2 Phil. iv. 7. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 39 

meekly adore the One who has so graciously 
visited him. 

3. Still further, the "witness of the Spirit," 
certifying to the truth of the doctrine that there 
is a life which is peculiarly "from above," is 
given in the walk and conversation of the 
thoughtful and earnest believer. Here again 
we are reminded of that u fruit of the Spirit," 
of which the Apostle speaks. Because a new 
life has been born within certain men, they are 
able to conform with something like fidelity to 
the law of the Gospel. They have not attained 
unto perfection, and in this world never can ; 
but they are different men from what they once 
were, as all who are familiar with their ante- 
cedents can testify. A marked change has come 
over them. They have a strength they formerly 
sadly lacked with which to resist temptation, 
and to do the things that once were distasteful 
to them ; and knowing this, we do not hesitate 
to say that in them we behold the ripening 
"fruit of the Spirit." 

The wondrous transformation that was wrought 
in the first companions of Jesus may here be 
cited. When they went about proclaiming the 
Gospel, filled to overflowing with love for 



40 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

God, and burning with love for fellow-mortals, 
they were far different men from what they 
were when they first left all to follow their 
Master. Look at Saint Peter. Outwardly it 
was the same Peter that preached in the streets 
of Jerusalem after the Day of Pentecost who, 
on the eve of the Crucifixion, thrice vehemently 
denied his Lord ; but inwardly it was quite 
another person. Or look at Saint Paul. The 
Saul of Tarsus that consented unto Stephen's 
death, and went forth, " breathing out threaten- 
ings and slaughter against the disciples of the 
Lord," l was not, as his friends could affirm, the 
Paul that had embraced the cause of them 
whom he had persecuted, and, contrary to his 
old Jewish prejudices, preached salvation as 
well to the Gentile as to the Jew. Both of 
these Apostles showed by their conduct that 
they had been "born from above." In the 
change that had taken place in them, the Spirit 
bore glorious witness that the Gospel was in 
truth " the power of God unto salvation," 2 to 
every one that believed. 

As it was in the case of the Apostles, so it 
was in the case of the thousands who, through 

1 Acts ix. 1. 2 Romans i. 16. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 41 

their labors and the blessing of God, were gath- 
ered into the fold of Christ. One of the most 
remarkable facts connected with the progress 
of the new faith was the alteration that ensued 
in the lives of those who embraced it. The 
only charge against the early Christians that 
could be sustained, was that theirs was a religio 
illicita, — a religion, that is, not licensed by the 
State. The younger Pliny, when enforcing, as 
proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus, Trajan's edict 
against them, wrote to the Emperor saying 
that, after a careful investigation of their belief 
and practices, he could " discover nothing but 
a perverse and extravagant superstition." x By 
every fair-minded person it was admitted that, 
as a class, the Christians were a singularly 
worthy people, chaste and sober, honest and 
industrious, excellent neighbors and good citi- 
zens. And yet, if we are to believe Saint Paul, 
such had not been the character of many of 
them before their conversion. In his letter to 
the Ephesians, he says, "And you hath He 
(God) quickened, who were dead in trespasses 
and sins ; wherein in time past ye walked ac- 
cording to the course of this world, according 
1 Epistle x. 97. 



42 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
that now worketh in the children of diso- 
bedience : among whom also we all had our 
conversation in times past in the lusts of our 
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of 
the mind ; and were by nature the children of 
wrath, even as others." * And in his letter to 
the Colossians, the same Apostle writes : " Mor- 
tify therefore your members which are upon the 
earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affec- 
tion, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which 
is idolatry : for which things' sake the wrath of 
God cometh on the children of disobedience : 
in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye 
lived in them." 2 These brethren of the various 
churches that Saint Paul had been privileged 
to organize were still fallible mortals ; they still 
needed to be instructed, admonished, and ex- 
horted ; but they gave proof for the most part 
in their lives of the transforming might of the 
Spirit. There was a noticeable difference be- 
tween what they were, as the professed disciples 
of Christ, and what they had been, when they 
had bowed before the altars of heathen di- 
vinities ; and in that difference their loving 
1 Ephesians ii. 1-3. 2 Colossians iii. 5-7 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 43 

father in the Gospel saw the " witness of the 
Spirit " to a fact that repaid him a thousand 
times over for all that he had done and suffered 
in the name of his Ascended Lord. Thinking 
of their liberation from what, referring to the 
debasing worship of heathen gods, Saint Augus- 
tine calls " the hellish thraldom of these un- 
clean spirits," he could have said, had Christians 
been as numerous in his day, what the latter did 
three centuries later, — that none but "aban- 
doned and ungrateful wretches" "could mur- 
mur that the masses flock to the churches and 
their chaste acts of worship ; where a seemly 
separation of the sexes is observed ; where they 
learn how they may so spend this earthly life 
as to merit a blessed eternity hereafter ; where 
Holy Scripture and instruction in righteousness 
are proclaimed from a raised platform in pres- 
ence of all, that both they who do the word may 
hear to their salvation, and they who do it not 
may hear to judgment. And though some enter 
who scoff at such precepts, all their petulance 
is either quenched by a sudden change, or is 
restrained through fear or shame. For no filthy 
and wicked action is there set forth to be gazed 
at or to be imitated ; but either the precepts of 



44 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

the true God are recommended, His miracles 
narrated, His gifts praised, or His benefits 
implored." 1 

And as it was in the days of the Apostles and 
their earlier successors, so it has been ever since. 
In every land where the Banner of the Cross 
has been unfurled, there have always been some 
to serve as living witnesses to the presence and 
power of the Holy Spirit. The teaching of 
Scripture under this head has been wondrously 
supplemented by the lives of true disciples, and 
thus all who have been willing to use their eyes 
and their reason have been given a most con- 
vincing proof of the truth of the Christian 
doctrine of regeneration. 

What Scripture teaches, then, when it speaks 
of the " witness of the Spirit," is re-affirmed by 
experience. The believer's inward assurance of 
the truth of the Gospel, his moments of clearer 
spiritual insight and deeper tranquillity, and the 
difference between his life and that of the " natu- 
ral man," all proclaim the presence within him of 
a Divine Guest, who, as the Son of Man was 
not ashamed to abide in the humblest Jewish 
home, is not ashamed to make an abode of 
1 Be. Civ. Dei, ii. 28, DocTs translation, Edin. 1878. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 45 

any heart whose doors are thrown open in 
welcome. 

IX. — Conversion and the Work of the 
Holy Spirit. 

What we mean, when we speak of the " birth 
from above," or regeneration, we assume that 
the reader now understands. We are treating 
of life in the spirit, in contradistinction to life 
in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a life 
that finds its fullest earthly expression in an 
active faith in Jesus Christ as the Revealer 
of God to man, in conscious communion with 
the Maker and Father thus revealed, in joy in 
well-doing, and in glad anticipation of a time 
to come, when " this corruptible " shall " put 
on incorruption," and " this mortal " shall 
" put on immortality." l He whose regenera- 
tion is thus certified to himself and to his fellow 
believers is, to use the recent language of a 
well-known American writer on religious themes, 
" brought into loyal, filial relations to his Father. 
He receives, ,by the direct play of the higher 
divine nature on his own, a new and divine life, 
which translates and transforms him, raises him 

1 1 Corinthians xv. 53. 



46 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

from the dead, emancipates him from his old- 
time bondage unto sin, delivers him from all 
fear of future penalty, redeems him from all 
present destruction, and unites him in a living 
relation of love and sympathy to his God." 1 
Such, as we interpret it, is the Scriptural doc- 
trine of regeneration, without having mastered 
which much of the teaching of our Lord and 
His Apostles must be unintelligible to the 
student of the New Testament. 

But now something should be said of con- 
version, both because of its relation to the gen- 
eral subject in hand, and because it is so often 
confounded with regeneration, or the " birth 
from above." 

Conversion and regeneration are not, as many 
suppose, synonymous terms. The one is from 
the Latin conversion a turning around, or revolu- 
tion, the equivalent of which in Greek is eiri- 
<TTpo(f)7], and the other from the Latin regene- 
rate, a being born again, the Greek for which 
is 7ra\tyy€V€(Tia. And, not being synonymous, 
conversion and regeneration, as we should natur- 
ally infer, are not used synonymously in the New 
Testament. Whenever a change of opinion or 

1 Lyman Abbott, D.D. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 47 

conduct is there referred to, it is spoken of as 
a conversion. Thus, for example, the Evan- 
gelical historian says of the missionaries Paul 
and Barnabas, as they wended their way to 
Jerusalem to consult the brethren there, " They 
passed through Phenice and Samaria, declar- 
ing the conversion of the Gentiles." 1 Thus, 
too, Christ, when explaining to His disciples 
why He speaks to the multitude in parables, 
applies to the latter the words of the prophet 
Isaiah, saying, " This people's heart is waxed 
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and 
their eyes they have closed, lest at any time 
they should see with their eyes, and hear with 
their ears, and should understand with their 
heart, and should be converted, and I should 
heal them." 2 On the other hand, the quicken- 
ing within one of a life that means, not merely 
a change of opinion and conduct, but entrance 
into higher relations with God, and a participa- 
tion, to a greater or less extent, in the privileges 

1 Acts xv. 3. This is the only place in the New Testament 
in which the word u conversion " is found. 

2 Matthew xiii. 15. The verb " to convert," in its various 
tenses, occurs also in the following passages : Mark iv. 12 ; 
Luke xxii. 32 ; John xii. 40 ; Acts xxviii. 27 ; James v. 19, 20. 
In Matthew xviii. 3, where Christ says, " Except ye be con- 
verted," etc., the Greek verb signifies only to turn. 



48 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

of Christ's Kingdom, is spoken of under the 
figure of a re-birth, or re-creation, as in the gen- 
eral passage before us, and in Saint Paul's Epistle 
to Titus, where he says, " But after that the 
kindness and love of God our Saviour toward 
man appeared, not by works of righteousness 
w T hich we have done, but according to His 
mercy He saved us, by the washing of regenera- 
tion and renewing of the Holy Ghost ; which 
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ 
our Saviour ; that being justified by His grace, 
we should be made heirs according to the hope 
of eternal life." 1 

Bearing in mind, then, the distinction be- 
tween conversion and regeneration, which, as 
we have seen, is one that the New Testament 
writers are very careful to make, we observe, — 

1. First, that a converted man is not of ne- 
cessity a regenerated man. After much mental 
travail, he may have come to believe in Christi- 
anity as a revelation from God, and to an appre- 
ciable extent his conduct may reflect his belief; 
but still it does not follow that he has been 
" born from above." The higher life may not 
yet have been generated within him, so that, to 
i iii. 4-7. Vide also 1 Peter, i. 23. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 49 

use an expressive Pauline phrase, he may not, 
strictly speaking, be " a fellow citizen with the 
saints, and of the household of God." x 

2. We observe, also, that a man may pass 
through a series of conversions, now embracing 
this system of belief, and now that, as his opin- 
ions happen to change. The average person 
may not fluctuate in this way ; but such fluctua- 
tions are far from being rare. We have in mind 
one of the most original thinkers and vigorous 
philosophical writers our country has produced, 
who conspicuously illustrated the point in ques- 
tion. 2 In his nineteenth year he joined the 
Presbyterian denomination, but a few years 
later became a Universalist minister. Then he 
drifted into scepticism, and became a follower 
of Robert Owen, and of the equally erratic 
Frances, or Fanny, Wright. After a while he 
studied the works of William Ellery Channing, 
and for a time was settled over a Unitarian so- 
ciety in Boston. But he did not remain a Uni- 
tarian. Again taking up his nomadic march, he 
finally pitched his tent among the Roman Cath- 
olics, to be recognized at length as one of their 
strongest apologists, and the founder of a philo- 

1 Ephesians ii. 19. 2 The late Orestes A. Brownson. 

4 



50 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

sophical system that attracted so much attention, 
that he was invited to a chair in the Roman 
Catholic university at Dublin. Thus he under- 
went at least five distinct conversions, or turn- 
ings around, the last of which would seem 
to have been permanent, for he died in the 
communion of Rome years after his reception 
into it. 

3. And, still again, we observe, that even one 
who has been regenerated may be converted, or 
turned around. For instance, without ceasing 
to be a believer in the Divine origin and mission 
of Christianity, his opinions on certain doctrinal 
points may undergo so great a change that he 
may feel compelled to leave one communion 
for another. Or he may fall from the faith 
altogether, his fall being accompanied by a 
moral lapse most sorrowful to contemplate ; and 
then, in the end, he may be re-converted, and 
thenceforward live a most exemplary life. The 
fact that one has been regenerated makes such 
changes, as far as grievous errors and lapses 
from righteousness are concerned, less likely ; 
but it does not make them impossible. For, 
while regeneration means the birth within one 
of a divine life, it is no guarantee that one's re- 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 51 

ligious opinions will always remain the same, or 
that he will never succumb to temptation. He 
is still a fallible mortal, and therefore needs to 
pray for grace that he may keep in the way of 
truth, and hold fast to the faith, and resist the 
allurements of sin. 

Conversion, then, is not the synonyme of re- 
generation, and hence the two terms should be 
used with discrimination. Conversion, we re- 
peat, means a turning around of the mind or the 
heart, and regeneration, a re-birth or re-creation. 
Furthermore, as has been shown, one may be 
converted several times, and even after he has 
been regenerated. But how about regenera- 
tion? Is that a process that may be several 
times repeated? Not if we correctly appre- 
hend its meaning. As one can be born only 
once in the flesh, so, we must think, he can be 
born only once in the spirit. The life with 
which he is thus royally endowed may suffer so 
much through neglect as to need revival and 
careful nursing to make it vigorous and fruitful; 
but this is not to say that one has been re-born 
of the Spirit. Such a birth has already taken 
place, and there is nothing to warrant belief 
that it ever occurs again. It is something that 



52 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

has been done once and for all, and, having be- 
come an accomplished fact, the changes it may 
undergo for worse or for better indicate a de- 
cline in or a restoration to health. Thus regen- 
eration means vastly more than conversion does, 
— entrance, in fine, into that eternal life of 
which our Lord so often speaks, a life in com- 
parison with which that in the senses is as 
nothing, and without which the prospect of 
never-ending existence in the soul would be 
shorn of its fairest attractions. 

Let no one infer, however, that we deny that 
the Holy Spirit ever has part in conversion. 
On the contrary, we rejoice in the belief that 
the grace and power of God are often signally 
revealed in the changes that men's opinions, 
feelings, and conduct undergo. As regenera- 
tion is the work of the Holy Spirit, so, too, a 
conversion of mind or heart may be, thus proph- 
esying an approaching " birth from above," 
or witnessing to the loving desire of the Spirit 
that the life beginning with such a birth may 
not languish through disease. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 53 

X. — Illustrative Examples. 

The story of Saul of Tarsus may be cited in 
illustration of the truth of which we speak ; for 
if any event in New Testament history, after 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, be entitled to 
belief, it is that of the conversion of this remark- 
able man, and in the manner narrated both by 
himself and the author of the Book of the Acts. 
In him we have one whose testimony in this re- 
lation is of the highest value. Well-educated, 
distinguished for common-sense and intellectual 
acumen and withal a man whose integrity will 
not be questioned, he may be accepted as a 
competent witness, and treated accordingly. 
And what does he say ? That a after the most 
straitest sect'" of the Jews, he had u lived a 
Pharisee," thinking that he " ought to do many 
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Naza- 
reth," and laying a heavy hand upon the follow- 
ers of the Crucified. Yet, going to Damascus, 
" with authority and commission from the chief 
priests," to harry the Christians there, he was 
suddenly arrested in his course, and changed 
from a persecutor into a believer, to become in 
time the ablest defender and exponent of the 



54 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

Gospel that the Church of Christ has known. 1 
Listen to his words to Agrippa : " At midday, 

king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, 
above the brightness of the sun, shining round 
about me and them which journeyed with me. 
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I 
heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in 
the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest 
thou me ? it is hard for thee to kick against the 
pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And 
he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have appeared 
unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a min- 
ister and a witness both of these things which 
thou hast seen, and of those things in the which 

1 will appear unto thee ; delivering thee from 
the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom 
now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn 
them from darkness to light, and from the power 
of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgive- 
ness of sins, and inheritance among them which 
are sanctified by faith that is in me. Where- 
upon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient 
unto the heavenly vision : but showed first unto 
them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and 

1 Acts xxvi. 4-12. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 55 

throughout all the coasts of Juclea, and then to 
the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn 
to God, and do works meet for repentance." 1 
Here we have the story of a genuine conver- 
sion, of a complete turning around, which cannot 
be adequately accounted for on purely natural 
grounds, and which, both in what preceded 
and followed it, proclaims the power of the 
Spirit. It is difficult not to feel that the martyr- 
dom of Saint Stephen, to which the proud Phar- 
isee had been " consenting," 2 made a profound 
impression upon him ; and difficult, too, it is 
not to feel that during his journey to Damascus 
the remembrance of the martyr's words and 
bearing awakened many strange and troublous 
thoughts. He was bound for that city on a 
persecutor's errand ; but the Holy Spirit was 
secretly guiding him thither, and was all the 
time preparing for the moment when the " light 
from heaven " should shine " round about him," 
and the reproving voice of the glorified Saviour 
should be heard. And the work of the Spirit 
may also be seen in what followed, when, aris- 
ing from the earth, the bewildered man was 

i Acts xxvi. 13-20. Cf. Acts ix. 1-22, xxii. 1-21. 
2 Ibid. viii. 1. 



56 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

led by his amazed companions into the city. 
For " three days "he was " without sight, and 
neither did eat nor drink ;" 1 during which 
time, we infer, he was gradually coming to him- 
self, and made to realize what manner of man 
he had been, and what was thenceforth de- 
manded of him. Then at last fully converted, 
his sight was restored, and admitted to baptism 
he stood forth among the rejoicing brethren, 
u a new creature [or creation] in Christ." In 
other words, he was now known to his new as- 
sociates both as a convert to the Gospel and as a 
regenerated man, one who believed that Jesus 
was the Christ, and more than that, one in whose 
nature the love of the Saviour had taken root, 
causing him to feel that it was his bounden 
duty to give himself, body and soul, to the ser- 
vice of his Ascended Lord, and spread His truth 
among men. 

Another striking illustration of the work of 
the Holy Spirit in conversion may be found 
in the life of the great Augustine, of Hippo. 
Born of a heathen father and a Christian mother, 
Augustine early displayed those intellectual 
gifts that were to make him the greatest thinker 

1 Acts ix. 9. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 57 

of his age, and one of the brightest lights that 
have adorned the Christian Church. But for 
years his life was irregular, and to the superficial 
observer it gave no promise of its future puri- 
fication. Still, sinner though he was, he was 
supremely dissatisfied with himself, and was 
ever seeking peace. Manicheism, with its doc- 
trine of warring Light and Darkness charmed 
him for a time ; for it seemed to explain the 
conflict of good and evil that was ever going 
on within him. He was also attracted by 
the severe morality it professed, and would 
probably have closely identified himself with 
its fortunes, had he not discovered that it 
cloaked a most shameful hypocrisy. Repelled, 
then, from Manicheism, he took refuge in 
scepticism, until, going to Milan, he fell under 
the influence of the high-souled and eloquent 
Ambrose. Years before he had paid some at- 
tention to Scripture, and now, with much ardor, 
he again fell to studying it. But though he 
found the light he longed for, he could not ob- 
tain the mastery of himself, and his unhappiness 
daily increased. What should he do? What 
hope was there that he could ever triumph over 
the propensities that were continually leading 



58 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

him astray ? In great distress of soul, he one 
day sought the retirement of a garden, and, 
with his face streaming with tears, cast him- 
self down under a fig-tree, and besought God 
for deliverance from the crushing burden of his 
sins. " How long? how long ? ' To-morrow ' ? " 
he groaned, " why not now ? why not is there 
this hour an end to my uncleanness ?" While 
thus storming Heaven with his heart-broken 
cries, he heard from u a neighboring house a 
voice, as of boy or girl . . . chanting, and oft 
repeating, l Take up and read ; take up and 
read.' " Believing that God had spoken through 
the child, he returned to the house where he 
had left his beloved friend Alypius, and open- 
ing at random the Scripture that he had short- 
ly before laid aside, his eyes fell upon the 
words : " Not in rioting and drunkenness, not 
in chambering and wantonness, not in strife 
and envying ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to 
fulfil the lusts thereof." 2 " No further would 
I read," he writes, " nor needed I: for in- 
stantly at the end of this sentence, by a light 
as it were of serenity infused into my heart, 
i Rom. xiii. 13, 14. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 59 

all the darkness of doubt vanished away. " 
Alypius, like Augustine, felt that God had 
spoken, and with joy they hurried off to ac- 
quaint the good Monica, Augustine's mother, 
who had long been praying for her son's conver- 
sion, with what had so wonderfully occurred. 
" And thou didst convert her mourning into 
joy" says Augustine. She, like him, felt that 
at last her prayers had been answered ; and on 
Easter, the following year (387), the work 
that had caused Monica to leap and sing for 
gladness was consummated, as the humble peni- 
tent and happy convert, in company with his 
friend Alypius, and his son Adeodatus, were 
admitted to baptism by the godly Ambrose, and 
thus received into the visible fold of Christ. 1 

The story of the conversion of Col. James 
Gardiner, who fell, in 1745, at the battle of 
Preston Pans, is so remarkable that even the 
unbelieving reader must be struck with it. 
Gardiner, a Scottish gentleman of birth, who 
served with distinction for many years in the 
British army, was long noted for the dissolute- 
ness of his life. He had been carefully edu- 

1 For Augustine's moving naruative of his conversion, see 
his " Confessions/' bk. viii. §§ 28-30. 



60 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

cated in the Christian religion by a pious and 
most excellent mother, and would seem to have 
been at times sadly conscious of his degrada- 
tion. Dr. Doddridge, who relates his history 
in an interesting little book, much prized in 
the last century, 1 tells us that when, on a cer- 
tain occasion, the Colonel was congratulated 
b} 7 some of his boon companions on the felicity 
that attended his courses, a dog coming into the 
room where they were, he " could not forbear 
groaning inwardly, and saying to himself, 4 Oh, 
that I were that dog!'" Like Augustine, he 
felt that the heart of man was restless until it 
rested in God, 2 and wondered if he should ever 
be able to live in accordance with the law of 
Christ. One Sunday evening, in his thirty- 
second year, when about to commit a great sin, 
he chanced to take up a book that had been 
slipped into his portmanteau, entitled u The 
Christian Soldier, or Heaven taken by Storm,*' 3 

1 Some Remarkable Passages in the Life of the Hon. Col. 
James Gardiner, etc. First published in 1747. 

2 " Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless 
until it reposes in Thee." 

3 The author of this book, Doddridge says, was Mr. Thomas 
Watson. He would seem to have been one of the Caroline 
divines who were ejected On St. Bartholomew's Day, 1662, 
for Nonconformity. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 61 

and, thinking to be amused, he opened it, and 
began carelessly to peruse it. Before long, how- 
ever, " he thought he saw," says his biographer, 
" an unusual blaze of light fall on the book," 
and, " lifting up his eyes, he apprehended, to 
his extreme amazement, that there was before 
him, as it were, suspended in the air, a visible 
representation of the Lord Jesus Christ upon 
the cross, surrounded on all sides with a glory ; 
and was impressed, as if a voice, or something 
equivalent to a voice, had come to him to this 
effect, for he was not confident as to the very 
words, ' Oh, sinner! did I suffer this for thee, 
and are these the returns?'" 1 Overcome with 
awe, fear, and shame, the Colonel sank back 
in his chair and lapsed into insensibility ; and 
when he recovered consciousness, the vision, if 
such it was, had vanished. 

Now, whether we insist or not, as so many 
have naturally insisted, that the Colonel was 
under the spell of a powerful hallucination, 
there can be no doubt that he believed that 
he had been divinely called to repentance. 
And, vision or not, we do not doubt that he 
had been thus called. From that time forward 
1 Doddridge's Narrative, Amer. ed. 1795, pp. 42, 43. 



62 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

he was a changed man. He abandoned his vi- 
cious ways, gave himself to the study and prac- 
tice of religion, lived a most exemplary life, and 
fell in the battle aforesaid, lamented by friend 
and foe. 1 The Spirit, after years of striving 
with him, triumphed, and he was thoroughly 
converted from the sins that had so long held 
him in bondage. The life from above, which, 
doubtless, had been born within him while a 
child — for he had been given to the Lord in 
baptism and been bred a Christian — but which 
had been allowed to pine for want of food, was 
revived and reinvigorated, until it waxed strong 
and fair, and delighted all who could appreciate 
its manliness and beauty. 

We cannot forbear offering still another illus- 
tration of the work of the Spirit in conversion. 
It is one that we owe to a friend in whose in- 
tegrity we have perfect confidence, and who 
was himself the actor in the story we now 
relate. 

Mr. G., as we shall call him, had been brought 
up religiously, and marrying the woman of his 

1 Any one curious to learn more about this remarkable 
conversion should consult notes 4 and 32 appended to Sir 
Walter Scott's novel of " Waverley." 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 63 

love, who was in every way worthy of his affec- 
tion, lived for some years an orderly and useful 
life. At length, however, he contracted an ap- 
petite for strong drink, which, though he never 
became a sot, slowly but steadily increased. The 
result was that he began to lose his self-respect, 
grew inattentive to his vocation, neglected his 
religious duties, and filled the heart of his de- 
voted wife with grief and shame. The future 
looked very dark to her. What would become 
of the husband and the father, saying nothing 
about herself and her children, unless he soon 
conquered the pernicious habit that was obtain- 
ing so strong a hold upon him ? But at length 
the succor she so earnestly desired and prayed 
for came. Late one afternoon, Mr. G. ap- 
proached his home, so much under the influ- 
ence of liquor as to be unsteady in his gait, and 
some boys who were playing with his little son 
before the door, noticing his condition, pointed 
their fingers at him, and tauntingly called their 
companion's attention to it. This the father re- 
marked, and his soul sank within him. It had 
come to this, then! His weakness was exciting 
comment, and his innocent child must suffer on 
his account! Into the house he went, too much 



64 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

ashamed to look the anxious wife in the face; 
and throughout the evening he sat by himself, 
moody and silent. He was thinking of his be- 
setting sin, and asking himself how he could 
master it. In such a frame of mind he retired 
to rest; but no sleep bathed his eyes. Finally, 
arising and dressing himself, he went out into 
the garden and began to pray for help. For 
an hour or more, he said, he remained there 
pouring forth his penitence in prayer, and be- 
seeching Heaven to free him from the chains of 
appetite. After a while peace came to him. A 
feeling that he could not describe took posses- 
sion of him. Something seemed to say, " Your 
prayer is answered." As light of heart as a 
child, he sprang to his feet, and going to a 
corner of the garden where he had a bottle of 
liquor secreted, he drew it forth and held it in 
his hand. He had not the slightest desire to 
taste its contents. His love for drink had van- 
ished, as it were, in the twinkling of an eye. 
" And I broke the bottle," he said, " and re- 
turned to the house another man ; and from 
that hour I have not touched a drop of alco- 
hol." It was some years after this incident 
when he narrated it to us. He was then an 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 65 

esteemed member of the community in which 
he resided, a regular attendant at Holy Com- 
munion, and the efficient superintendent of a 
Sunday School. Through the power of the 
Spirit he had been won from a vice which had 
threatened to destroy him. So, at least, he be- 
lieved, and so we have always believed. With 
the light of Scripture and Christian experience 
to guide us, we can in no other way interpret 
the change that our friend underwent. 

After such testimony as the foregoing, we 
find it difficult to doubt that the agency of 
the Holy Spirit is often clearly recognizable in 
conversion. As in the first two instances, con- 
version may be preliminary to regeneration, — 
the one, in fact, following the other so rapidly 
as to seem almost concurrent with it, — or, as 
in the case of Col. Gardiner and Mr. G., con- 
version may mean a restoration to moral and 
spiritual health after a long illness, from which, 
for a time, there seemed to be little prospect of 
recovery. 



66 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

XI. — The Secret Work of the Holy 
Spirit. 

We have seen how the work of the Holy 
Spirit in man may often be traced with much 
definiteness. It should now, however, be re- 
marked that in many and perhaps the large 
majority of cases, that work is done so secretly 
that one may be unconscious of what is going 
on within him. He may have no " experi- 
ence," as some call it, to attest the fact that 
he has been "born from above," or that the 
life thus generated has been revived by fresh 
effusions of grace. All that he can say is, that 
he is not what he once was, — spiritually igno- 
rant, or coldly indifferent to the truth, living 
wholly unto himself, or carelessly indulging in 
sins and vices that now he loathes and shuns. 
An undeniable change has gradually come over 
him, a change that causes him to glorify God, 
and consciousness of which incites him to ap- 
ply himself with increasing diligence to the 
business of the disciple ; but he is unable to 
tell us when that change began. " All that I 
know," he says, " is, that once I did not think 
enough about God to love Him, and that now 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 67 

I do love Him, and with all ray mind, and soul, 
and strength ; that once Christ was nothing to 
me but an historical Personage, and that now 
I regard Him as the One 4 altogether lovely ; ' 
that once, like the disciples of John the Bap- 
tist, I had ' not so much as heard whether there 
was any Holy Ghost,' x and that now I feel the 
presence of the Spirit in my heart, witnessing 
that I, too, am a child of God ; and that, 
whereas once I cared chiefly for myself, and 
did much which to-day I recall with sorrow, 
now I have thought for my brethren every- 
where, and am desirous of conforming my life 
to God's reasonable requirements.' 5 Shall we 
deny that such a person has been " born from 
above," when thus we have sufficient reason 
for believing- that he has been so born? Why 
should we? He brings forth of the "fruit of 
the Spirit;" why, then, not admit that the 
Spirit has visited him, although in so quiet 
and secret a manner that we knew not that 
such a visit had been paid until the man's 
whole bearing and conduct began to proclaim 
that glorious fact? 

Or take such a case as this : A man whose 
1 Acts xix. 2. 



68 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

Christian faith and character are beyond ques- 
tion modestly assures us that he cannot re- 
member the time when he did not in some 
fashion love God, Christ, and his fellow-men. 
"I was taken to the font in infancy," he says. 
"As soon as I could talk my mother taught me 
the Lord's Prayer. I was bred in the Church 
and Sunday School. I was told to ' abhor that 
which is evil,' and to l cleave to that which is 
good.' I have never had serious doubts as to 
the existence of God or the truth of the Chris- 
tian Revelation. I have ever delighted in at- 
tending Divine service, and have ever found 
pleasure and profit in reading Holy Scripture. 
Of course I have done wrong, for I am human, 
I am keenly conscious that I am not free from 
sin; and therefore I feel that there is large 
room for improvement in me. But, to be frank 
with you, I must admit that I have never expe- 
rienced what some of my friends call ' conver- 
sion,' save that I have often been made deeply 
sensible of the wrongness of some act or state 
of feeling, and have heartily repented of it. If 
I have not been regenerated, then God grant 
that I soon may be! but I humbly trust that 
I have been, although I am by no means sat- 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 69 

isfied with myself, and daily and nightly pray 
that I may grow in grace and in knowledge of 
the Lord." Now, what shall we say about a 
case like this, which we know is not an uncom- 
mon one? Shall we insist that such a man has 
not been "born from above," simpty because the 
Spirit has never come to him in " demonstra- 
tion " and in " power," but so quietly as to en- 
ter in without knocking, and to abide within 
a long time before the master of the house 
knew that a Heavenly Visitor was present ? 
God forbid ! We have what we must regard 
as an ample proof that this friend and brother 
has been " born from above ; " and with that 
proof we should rest content. 

Hence, to men like these of whom we have 
been speaking, we feel constrained to say, Do 
not be troubled because your religious experi- 
ence has been different from that of many others. 
If you have been given to God in baptism, and 
have been steadily growing in the Christian life, 
be meekly thankful that such is the fact, and 
earnestly strive to increase in faith and ri^ht- 
eousness. Beware of spiritual complacency ; 
think not that you are what you should be, and 
with Divine help may become ; but be not dis- 



70 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

couraged and cast down because it has not been 
with jou in spiritual things as it has been with 
some with whom you are wont to converse. 
The ways of the Spirit are diverse and manifold. 
No two Christian men have precisely the same 
experience to relate. If )^ou have the witness 
of the Church that you have been " born of 
water," and the witness of the Spirit that you 
have been " born of the Spirit," what more can 
you ask or desire than that you may be given 
grace to improve God's highest gift, and do 
the works of obedient and loving disciples? 
Remarks the Rev. Frederick W. Robertson : 1 — 

" Men of enthusiastic temperaments, chiefly men 
whose lives have been irregular, whose religion has 
come to them suddenly, interpreting all cases by their 
own experiences, have said that the exercise of God's 
Spirit is ever sudden and supernatural, and it has 
seemed to them that to try and bring up a child for 
God, in the way of education, is to bid defiance to that 
Spirit which is like the wind, ' blowing where it listeth,' 
and if a man cannot tell the day or hour when he was 
converted, to those persons he does not seem to be a 
Christian at all. He may be holy, humble, loving; 
but unless there is a visible manifestation of how and 
when he was changed, he must be still ranked as unre- 

1 Sermon xi. Fourth series. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 71 

generate. ... In our life there is a time in which our 
spirit has gained the mastery over the flesh ; it is not 
important to know when, but whether it has taken 
place." 

XII. Times of Spiritual Awakening. 

In treating of the work and ways of the 
Holy Spirit, it would be a grave omission to say 
nothing of what may be called times of spirit- 
ual awakening. That there have been times in 
the history of the Gospel, when the presence 
and power of the Spirit have been specially 
manifested, no thoughtful and believing student 
of that history will deny. We do not agree 
with many in their interpretation of certain 
accompaniments of some awakenings in modern 
times ; where they are convinced that they be- 
hold the operations of the Spirit, we are equally 
convinced that we behold the workings of de- 
lusion, of unhealthy excitement, and occasion- 
ally, even of madness ; yet none will assent 
more unhesitatingly than we to the proposition 
that not only has the Holy Spirit been present 
with Christ's people from the beginning, but 
that there have been times when that consoling 
and inspiring fact has been grandly demon- 



72 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

strated to all who have had eyes with which to 
see, and ears with which to hear. 

It was on the day of Pentecost, the day com- 
memorated under the beautiful and expressive 
name of Whit-Sunday, or White Sunday, that 
the first outpouring of the Spirit on the Church 
occurred. Ten days had passed since the Lord 
Jesus had been received up into glory, and the 
disciples, having returned to Jerusalem, " were 
all with one accord in one place," 2 waiting for 
the coming of the promised Paraclete, or Com- 
forter. On the eve of His passion, the Master 
had said to His sorrowing companions : " If 
ye love me, keep my commandments. And I 
will pray the Father, and He shall give you 
another Comforter, that He may abide with 
you forever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom 
the world cannot receive, because it seeth 
Him not, neither knoweth Him ; but ye know 
Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be 
in you." 2 And the promise thus made had 
been repeated on the eve of Christ's ascension, 
when, knowing that their Lord' was about to 
leave them, the disciples were wondering how 

1 Acts ii. 1. 

2 John xiv. 15-17. Vide ibid. v. 26, and xvi. 7-14. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 73 

they were to do their appointed work without 
the support of His visible presence, and the 
guidance of His audible voice. Then were 
they commanded not to " depart from Jerusa- 
lem, but wait for the promise of the Father, 
which," continued their Leader, u ye have heard 
of Me. For John truly baptized with water ; 
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost 
not many days hence." l 

Such were the time, place, and purpose of the 
disciples' meeting on the occasion referred to ; 
and then and there it was that the promise given 
them was wondrously redeemed. "And sud- 
denly," writes the Evangelical historian, " there 
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty 
wind and it filled all the house where they were 
sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven 
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of 
them. And they were all filled with the Holy 
Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, 
as the Spirit gave them utterance." 2 What 
followed needs hardly to be recounted. In re- 
sponse to the question, " What meaneth this ? " 
and in refutation of the mocking assertion 
that the inspired speakers were " full of new 

1 Acts i. 4-5. 2 Ibid. ii. 2-4. 



74 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

wine," Peter, as the spokesman of the Apos- 
tolic company, declared that the ancient proph- 
ecy had been fulfilled, 1 that " all the house 
of Israel " might " know assuredly," that God 
had made " that same Jesus," whom they had 
crucified, "both Lord and Christ." 2 The Com- 
forter had come; the Holy Spirit was with 
Christ's people; and the word to all who acknowl- 
edged the Apostles as the duly commissioned 
servants of the crowned and exalted Saviour 
was, " Repent and be baptized every one of 
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto 3-ou, and 
to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." 3 
The result was that " about three thousand 
souls " 4 were that day added to the infant 
Church, and the age-lasting campaign of the 
Kingdom of Light against the Kingdom of 
Darkness began with a great and most aus- 
picious victory. 

Special outpourings of the Spirit were vouch- 
safed the Apostolic Church from that time for- 

1 Joel ii. 28-32. 2 Acts ii. 14-37. 3 Ibid. 38, 39. 

4 Ibid. 41. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 75 

ward, confirming the teaching of her leaders, 
and renewing their strength and ardor for the 
mighty work in hand. * And without doubt, 
the same favors were repeatedly granted the 
successors of the Apostles. Says the learned 
Mosheim, writing of the rapid propagation of 
the Gospel in the second century: " The as- 
tonishing progress thus made by Christianity, 
and the uninterrupted series of victories which 
it obtained over the ancient superstitions, are 
attributed by the writers of those days, not so 
much to the zeal and diligence of those who, 
either in conformity to what they considered 
as a divine call, of their own accord assumed 
the office of teachers, or had else been regu- 
larly appointed thereto by the bishops, as to 
the irresistible operations of the Deity acting 
through them. For, according to these ail- 
thors, so energetic and powerful was the opera- 
tion of divine truth, that most frequently, upon 
its being simply propounded, without entering 
either into proofs or arguments, its effects on 
the hearers' minds were such that persons of 
every age, sex, and condition, became at once 
enamoured of its excellence, and eagerly rushed 

i Acts iv. 31-33; viii. 14-17; x. 44-48; xi. 19-21. 



76 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

forward to embrace it." And further on he 
says : " That this was the case, and that those 
gifts of the Holy Spirit which are commonly 
termed miraculous were liberally imparted by 
Heaven to numbers of the Christians, not only 
in this but likewise in the succeeding age, has, 
on the faith of the concurrent testimony of 
the ancient fathers, been hitherto universally 
credited throughout the Christian world." ' l 

The testimony of the ecclesiastical chroniclers 
of the Dark Ages as to supernatural occur- 
rences in the life of the Church is not, for 
reasons that need not be given, entitled to the 
same consideration as that of the fathers just re- 
ferred to ; and yet we cannot read what they have 
recorded concerning the progress of the Gospel 
without feeling that the power of the Spirit 
was signally displayed in the results of the con- 
secrated labors of men like Columba, Augus- 
tine of Canterbury, and Paulinus ; like Aidan 
and Cuthbert, Wilfrid and Boniface. What- 
ever errors of doctrine these devoted and untiring 
servants of Christ may be thought to have 
inculcated, it is difficult not to believe that the 

1 History of Christianity. Vidal and Murdock's Transla- 
tion, N. Y. ed. 1854. Vol. i., pp. 277-279. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 77 

Spirit was with them, and that it was more 
by the power of the Spirit than by anything 
that they were able to say or do unaided, that 
they become the moral conquerors of vast mul- 
titudes of rude, benighted souls. 

The era of the Reformation was one of 
breaking away and tearing down, of bitter 
contention and bloody strife, when some of the 
worst and most destructive passions burst into 
flame, when persecution and counter-persecution 
did their cruel work without mercy and with- 
out remorse, and in some quarters the wildest 
fanaticism raged ; and yet even then did the 
Spirit of the Lord come down upon thousands, 
arousing them from their apathy and sloth, 
and causing them to repent and bring forth 
" fruits meet for repentance," enlightening 
their eyes, filling them with unwonted love 
for Christ and His truth, and so strengthening 
their hearts that many a formerly weak soul 
walked as serenely to the block or to the stake 
as to a festival. On no purely natural grounds 
can we account for the benign change that 
came over the thoughts and affections of so 
many in that age. Dark and forbidding as 
were the skies that then lowered over West- 



78 THE BIRTH FROxM ABOVE. 

ern Christendom, their gloom was ever and anon 
relieved by the regenerating fires of the Spirit, 
as they descended to renew the face of the 
earth. Even Rome, stoutly opposed as she was 
to those who had parted company with her, 
received something of the Divine effusion, and 
stirred and energized by it, became more active 
in good works than she had been for centuries. 
By all discerning souls it was felt that the Spirit 
had again been poured out upon a sinful world, 
causing a weary winter to give way to a glad, 
prophetic spring, and re-certifying far and wide 
that the Gospel was " the power of God unto 
salvation." 1 

Hardly second in importance to the Reform- 
ation, as far as English-speaking peoples are 
concerned, was that revival of the last centurv 
which did so much to infuse new life and en- 
ergy into the English Church and the various 
bodies that had separated from her. Who that 
believes in the living God revealed in Jesus 
Christ can long doubt that both they who 
adopted the name of Methodist, bestowed upon 
them in derision, and they who preferred 
that of Evangelical, and, unlike the majority 
i 1 Rom. L 16. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 79 

of the first-mentioned school, continued to re- 
main within the Mother Church, were incited 
to their truly Christian labors by the same 
Spirit that wrought so marvellously at Pente- 
cost ? As we stud}' the literature of that period, 
we note much that we cannot attribute to a 
Divine source ; the progress of the revival 
was often marked by an intemperance of en- 
thusiasm offensive alike to reason and sober 
piety ; but if the Holy Spirit has ever been 
manifested since Apostolic times, it was when 
Wesley and Whitefield, Romaine and Newton, 
were devoting themselves and all their powers 
to their sacred calling as ministers of Christ. 
One hundred and fifty years have flown since 
that famous awakening began ; and its influence* 
is still felt throughout the Anglo-Saxon world. 
What the result would have been had it never 
occurred can only be conjectured ; but it may 
be safely affirmed that it was the beginning of a 
new era both for the Church of England and the 
communions born of her, and one that declares, 
as plainly as does anything in modern history, 
that Christianity is of God and that supernatu- 
ral forces are ever at work for the regeneration 
of mankind. 



80 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

As long as sin and unbelief remain, so long 
there will be periods resembling those that we 
have been reviewing. The Spirit never sleeps, 
and often, when we least suspect it, is secretly 
accomplishing the most important and endur- 
ing results ; yet this does not render seasons of 
special manifestation less necessary. Not only 
does the Church need at times to be thoroughly 
aroused, that she may the more thoroughly co- 
operate with the unseen laborers with her, but 
the attention of the worldly and the scornful 
needs to be suddenly and sharply arrested by 
the play of forces such as no self-sufficient 
scepticism and no sullen and dogmatic materi- 
alism can explain away. As the Day of Pen- 
tecost was needed to proclaim to all who saw 
and heard its wonders that God still lived and 
reigned, so similar outpourings are needed to 
declare the same uplifting fact, meeting the 
haughty challenge of unbelief, " Where is thy 
God?" 1 and gladdening the hearts of the faith- 
ful with the assurance that they are not less 
highly favored than were their fathers before 
them. Hence the reader can understand why we 
confidently look for the coming of another season 
1 Psalm xlii. 3. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 81 

of spiritual awakening. Unless we strangely 
misinterpret the signs of the times, such a sea- 
son is rapidly approaching, and is even near our 
doors. That it will be attended by errors and 
extravagances of which the thoughtful and the 
quietly devout will not approve is altogether 
probable ; that methods will be resorted to 
which will work more mischief than benefit is 
to be expected ; but the Church, at least in 
many quarters, will be revived, and clothed 
afresh with strength and courage. May the 
communion to which we belong partake of the 
blessings of the coming awakening. It will not 
be necessary to adopt measures and practices 
that our sense of right and fitness moves us to 
avoid ; but we should welcome the Spirit in the 
day of visitation, and help all we can to add 
new territory to the visible Kingdom of our 
Lord. Alas for us if we elect to do otherwise ! 
Such a choice will show that we do not care to 
have part in the work of subduing the world 
unto Christ ; and to our denomination, as to 
the Babylonian King, the stern announcement 
will be made : Thou art weighed in the 

BALANCES, AND ART FOUND WANTING ! l 

i Dan. v. 27. 
6 



82 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

•XIII. — Privileges of the Life from 
Above. 

Returning from what some may have regarded 
as a digression from the main subject, let us re- 
flect upon the privileges of those who have been 
" born from above." For, while the Spirit is 
no respecter of persons, but visits the lowly as 
gladly as the lofty, and the unlettered as will- 
ingly as the learned, certain privileges are con- 
ferred upon the regenerate that cannot be too 
highly prized. 

1. Foremost among the privileges of which 
we speak is the communion of the Spirit. 
" The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
the love of God, and the communion of the 
Holy .Ghost," says Saint Paul to his brethren 
of the Church at Corinth, "be with you all." 1 
What is this communion? The answer to the 
question has been in part anticipated by what 
we have said of the inward witness that the 
Spirit bears to the reality of the life from 
above, and by our remarks on the nature of 
regeneration. 2 The communion of the Spirit 
is precisely what, believing in a Holy Spirit,, 

1 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 2 Vide p. 52 et seq., and p. 64 et seg. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 83 

'we should suppose it to be, — fellowship with 
that Spirit, conscious relations with the Author 
of spiritual life, sweet intercourse with One who 
does not disdain to be the constant Friend and 
Helper of the poorest of His children. And 
what rarer privilege can there be than this? 
What would be confidential intercourse with 
the greatest monarch, or the mightiest genius, 
the world has ever seen, compared with daily 
and nightly communion with Him who made 
us, and who, by His Spirit, lovingly draws nigh 
unto the soul that filially draws nigh unto Him? 
Such is one of the privileges of him who has 
been " born from above." Not only does he 
spiritually know that there is a God, but he 
feels that he is in the immediate presence of 
Him before whom, as they behold the un- 
created glory with which He clothes Himself, 
archangels bow their faces in humblest adora- 
tion. Nor is this all. He is permitted to ad- 
dress this Being, with the assurance that not so 
much as a sigh escapes him that is not heard 
by an all-sympathetic Ear, to be answered by 
a Voice whose slightest accents flood the cham- 
bers of the soul with music. He does not boast 
himself of the favors thus vouchsafed him, nor 



84 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

does he presume to think that he has been pre-' 
ferred before his fellows, and endowed with a 
knowledge and a power that they can never 
share. He feels only this: that he has expe- 
rienced for himself the meaning of the phrase, 
" the communion of the Spirit," and that it 
symbolizes blessings that human language can 
never express. His feeling, in fine, is that of 
the Mediaeval writer, who has enriched relig- 
ious literature with one of the noblest produc- 
tions that ever came from an uninspired pen, 
and who says : " A man whose soul is united 
to Christ in fervent love, and who hath freed 
himself from passions and worldly solicitudes, 
this man, I say, is as it were spiritualized, can 
have recourse to God without distraction, lives 
in a manner by and within himself, — nay, is 
raised above himself, and enjoys heaven while 
yet upon earth." 1 

2. Another privilege of one who has been 
" born from above," is active citizenship in the 
Kingdom of God. He knows that there is such 
a kingdom, and that as a Christian he is iden- 
tified with its affairs. He is a member of a 

1 De Imitatione Christi. Stanhope's Translation. Lond. 
1809. p. 76. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 85 

Divine Society which includes the innumerable 
throngs who have worn, or still wear, the gar- 
ments of mortality, and who, united to Christ, 
are striving for the redemption of the race, — 
" the glorious company of the Apostles," " the 
goodly fellowship of the Prophets," " the no- 
ble army of Martyrs," and " the Holy Church 
throughout all the world." He may be well- 
nigh penniless, and so obscure, that, should he 
die to-morrow, not a score of persons would 
miss him from the streets; but still, as a citi- 
zen of the Heavenly Kingdom, his rank is the 
highest known to earth. Princes and nobles 
cannot take precedence of him in this respect. 
When he approaches the altar of Christ he is 
on an equality with any one who may appear 
before it. He is more than a member of this 
or that nation, — he belongs as well to a nation 
embracing men of every clime and race. Wher- 
ever the Cross has been planted fellow-citizens 
of his are gathered. The language that he hears 
may be unintelligible to him ; they with whom 
he mingles may differ from him in color, dress, 
and manners; but if they be in the true sense 
Christians, they are his brethren, members of 
the same Kingdom, being of " the household 



86 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

of God." 1 Some spots are naturally dearer to 
him than others ; his native or adopted flag has 
claims upon him that he does not wish to dis- 
allow ; but, spiritually speaking, wherever the 
Church of Christ is found, there is his mother- 
land, and wherever the truths of the Gospel are 
set forth, there he is at home. 

This, then, is the Kingdom of which he who 
has been " born from above " is privileged to 
call himself a citizen ; and in the saving work 
of this Kingdom he is privileged to share. 
Humble as may be his calling, and ordinary as 
may be his mental attainments, he, too, can do, 
and is doing, something to hasten the coming of 
the age when God shall be " all in all." 2 He 
is a soldier, enlisted under the lordliest banner 
that is kissed by the winds of morning. The 
most illustrious victories that history records 
have, with the help of God, been achieved by 
those who have rallied around that banner. 
The Captain of the host in which he marches 
knows his name, and prizes his obedience. 
Some day he must fall in the fight, and another 
will take his place ; but the holy war will still 
be prosecuted, and he, though in a higher way, 
1 Eph. ii. 19. 2 1 Cor. xv. 28. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 87 

will continue to have part in it, until, as a glori- 
fied spirit, he beholds it brought to a triumphant 
conclusion, and " at the name of Jesus " every 
knee is bowed, " of things in heaven, and things 
in earth, and things under the earth," and every 
tongue confesses that " Jesus Christ is Lord, to 
the glory of God the Father." 1 

3. We have suggested still another privilege 
of one who has been "born from above," when 
we think of the power of spiritual perception 
he enjoys, especially if he has prayerfully de- 
veloped the gift of God. Many may excel him 
in this respect; yet in comparison with him 
thousands upon thousands are blind. 

(1) In the first place, one who is spiritually 
active divines more accurately than he other- 
wise would the essential meaning of Scripture. 
He is not an infallible interpreter ; but radiance 
streams out from many a passage that formerly 
was darkness to him. At least this is true of 
him unless he be naturally deficient in power 
of reflection. Not only do the mountain peaks 
of Revelation stand out more clearly against the 
background of eternity, but valleys, where once 
he saw only deepening shadows, grow lighter to 
i Phil. ii. 10, 11. 



88 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

his searching eye. For this reason, much as 
he may be wanting in scholarship, he may, for 
practical purposes, be a better exegete than 
many a man that might be named, who, with 
all the knowledge and discipline obtainable in 
celebrated schools, has given years to the study 
of the Word. Let him only be assured that he 
has before him an approximately correct trans- 
lation of the Sacred Text, after the latter has 
undergone a careful recension, and, possessing 
common-sense and a fair acquaintance with 
Scripture as a whole, he will be a more reliable 
guide for the ignorant through Biblical realms 
than scores of mere scholars who, however 
large their learning, are spiritually short-sighted. 
For spiritual short-sightedness is one of the 
chief obstacles in the way of Scriptural inter- 
pretation. " Spiritual things," be it again re- 
membered, must be "spiritually discerned." 1 
The books of the Bible are more than so much 
literature ; they are the records of a progressive 
Revelation, and as such, with respect to their 
profounder teachings, they need to be studied 
by minds that have been spiritually illumined. 
(2) As it is with such a man with respect to 
i 1 Cor. ii. 14. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 89 

Scripture, so it is with respect to Nature. To 
him Nature is not what she is to so many, — a 
beautiful but dark enigma. There is a great 
deal about her that he would not think of trying 
to fathom ; she does much that seems inconsis- 
tent with his unshaken belief in Eternal Good- 
ness ; but she does not appall and terrify him, 
as she would did he regard her with the eye 
of the materialist. She is not a huge, soulless 
machine, governed by a black-browed, inexor- 
able Fate, but the handiwork of the God and 
Father of Jesus Christ, who " maketh His sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth 
rain on the just and on the unjust." 1 He is 
sure that, could he only read the Symbolic 
Word lying open before him as successfully as 
he does the Written Word, nothing would be 
disclosed that would be contrary to Scripture. 
And one great reason why he is so sure on this 
point is that his faculty of spiritual perception 
enables him to detect in Nature the action and 
interaction of Divine Forces that sing her 
Blessed Author's praise. He sees in her the 
operations of a Being to whom she owes all her 
power, grandeur, and beauty. Benevolence, as 

1 Matt. v. 45. 



90 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

well as wisdom and might, informs her. If he 
set himself against her, she will sternly rebuke 
and punish him, and even though he be inno- 
cent of any designs against her peace, she may 
suddenly and most unexpectedly visit him and 
his with pain and death ; but while he cannot 
explain many of her dealings with man, he is 
confident, from what is revealed to him, that all 
that she does is well done. The higher interests 
of mankind are in some way, however mysteri- 
ously, subserved ; and he is willing to bow his 
head in the presence of the Infinite Perfection, 
and patiently await the hour when God will 
justify Himself to His creatures, and show them 
that they never erred in calling Him their 
Father. 

It is true that, to hold rational communion 
with God in Nature, one must have something 
of " the vision and the faculty divine " of which 
Wordsworth speaks; but it is equally true that, 
combined with this " vision "and "faculty," there 
must be the spiritual perception of him who has 
been " born from above." Had it not been for 
such perception, which marks the difference be- 
tween the Excursion and Queen Mab^ Words- 
worth would not have been a better interpreter 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 91 

of Nature than Shelley, and hence could never 
have witten lines like these : — 

..." I have felt 
A presence that disturbs me with the joy 
Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 
Of something far more deeply interfused, 
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 
And the round ocean and the living air, 
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man ; 
A motion and a spirit, that impels 
All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still 
A lover of the meadows and the woods, 
And mountains, and of all that we behold 
From this green earth ; of all the mighty world 
Of eye and ear, — both what they half create, 
And what perceive ; well pleased to recognize 
In nature and the language of the sense 
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, 
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul 
Of all my moral being." * 

The closing words of the late Canon Mozley's 
remarkable sermon on Nature may be appropri- 
ately quoted in connection with these immortal 
lines. Having spoken of " the great atheistic 
poets," and shown how idolatry of the outward 
world " spoiled these men for the inward," un- 
til " in anger they fell back upon a Manichean 

1 Tintern Abbey. 



92 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

God, who was lovely in nature and unjust in 
man," this writer truly says : — 

" When men have started from outward nature, 
when they have used it as a foundation, and made it 
their first stay, its glory has thus issued in gloom and 
despondency ; but to those who have first made the 
knowledge of themselves and their own souls their 
care, it has ever turned to light and hope. They have 
read in Nature an augury and a presage ; they have 
found in it a language and a revelation ; and they 
have caught in it signs and intimations of Him who 
has clothed Himself with it as with a garment, who 
has robed Himself with its honor and majesty, has 
decked Himself with its light, and who created it as 
an expression and manifestation of Himself.' ' l 

(3) Through spiritual perception one may 
also find a revelation of God in History. In the 
careers of nations, the slow but steady unfold- 
ings of humanity, the march of great ideas, and 
the triumph of great principles, he may discern 
the guiding and saving Hand of the omnipotent 
King of kings. Instead of being but little more 
than the record of brutal and destructive wars, 
of greedy ambition and shameful oppression, of 
opposing jealousies, hatreds, and lusts, together 
with maddened attempts of suffering masses to 
1 University Sermons, fourth ed. N. Y. p. 144. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 93 

throw off galling yokes and avenge themselves 
upon their tormentors, history to such a person, 
if he make it a study, will proclaim the invisi- 
ble presence of God with men, correcting their 
mistakes, bringing their follies to naught, caus- 
ing their wrath to praise Him, supplementing 
the endeavors of the wise and the righteous, 
and thus ever leading His children on to higher 
and better things. Here, then, as in Nature, 
light shines out of darkness and beneficent pur- 
pose is seen. Man has not been left to his own 
devices, is not the sport and prey of blind and 
merciless Chance, but God's own child, whom 
He would save from ignorance and sin, and 
crown with undying favor. 

(4) Once more. To one who has been spirit- 
ually enlightened through having been " born 
from above," life becomes fuller of significance 
the more that it is studied. The utility of 
much that men unavoidably undergo in the 
journey from the cradle to the grave is not 
perfectly plain to him; but he sees enough to 
convince him that life, as far as its divine side 
is concerned, is what it should be, and is fraught 
with richest purpose. Thus with the Apostle 
he can say, "Though our outward man perish, 



94 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 
For oar light affliction, which is but for a mo- 
ment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." * Experiences of his 
own, the blessedness of which he once could 
not comprehend, now so plainly declare the 
Divine Wisdom, that he rejoices where first he 
could only sigh or weep ; and, girded with new 
hope and courage, he runs with cheerful pa- 
tience the race that is set before him ! 2 

Such are the privileges of the life " from 
above ; " and he that enjoys them may, like 
Israel of old, be called a prince with God. 3 
Higher privileges than his are unknown to 
earth; for higher can belong only to saints in 
Paradise, or to the Angelic company. 

XIV. — Growth ix the Life from Above. 

Merely to be regenerated, or " born from 
above," is not enough ; for, as we have else- 
where observed, one's regeneration is no guar- 
antee that he will remain in a state of spiritual 
health and promise. The life thus conferred 
upon him must be carefully nourished and 

i 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17. 2 Heb. xii. 1. 

3 Gen. xxxii. 28. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 95 

tended, or he will not grow up into a vigor- 
ous and well-proportioned Christian manhood. 
Hence, as our little book draws nigh its close, 
we are reminded of the necessity of saying some- 
thing on growth in the life " from above." 

To "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," x as an 
Apostle phrases it, one's inner life must there- 
fore be fed and educated. For instance, he 
must freely avail himself of the instrumentali- 
ties provided for spiritual nurture in the rites 
and ordinances of the Church. He should be 
a regular attendant upon Divine service, a 
thoughtful listener when Holy Scripture is 
read, and an habitual and reverent student of 
it. He should frequently present himself at 
Holy Communion, and gratefully partake of 
the meat and drink there spread before him 
in the name of Redeeming Love. So, too, he 
should engage in domestic devotions. He 
should not think that he can discharge all his 
religious duties by appearing in the House of 
Prayer on stated occasions, and remaining si- 
lent before God at other times. If there be a 
family altar beneath the roof that shelters him, 
i 2 Pet. iii. 18. 



96 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

— and what home can afford to be without one? 
— he should daily worship at that altar, and thus 
prepare himself for any trial of his faith or man- 
hood that may be at hand. And, furthermore, 
he should have his seasons of private worship. 
Wherever he may chance to be, — in the soli- 
tude of his chamber, or in the very thick of 
the world's affairs, — he should often turn to 
the " Father of Lights " to laud His number- 
less mercies, and beseech anew His guidance. 
A practice like this, when engaged in, not per- 
functorily, but with true devoutness, cannot do 
otherwise than develop spiritual life, and impart 
to it individuality and tone. 

Much to be commended, it may here be ob- 
served, is the habit of quietly meditating on 
Divine themes, such as the wisdom, power, and 
goodness of God, His glory in the heavens and 
the earth, and His unerring providence, both as 
regards the race at large and one's own self. 
Especially should the life and character of Him 
in whom God so adorably reveals Himself be 
raptly dwelt upon. To think of Christ as He 
is portrayed in the Gospel biographies, admir- 
ing His matchless excellencies, and trying to 
love what He loves, is sure to make us more 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 97 

like Him, and thus to speed the accomplishment 
of His good work in us. As " the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life," by other than whom " no 
man cometh unto the Father," * He sets a pat- 
tern for our imitation, daily contemplating the 
incomparable beauty of which we may hope to 
come at last, " in the unity of the faith, and of 
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a per- 
fect man, unto the measure of the stature of 
the fulness of Christ." 2 

Much to be commended, also, is the frequent 
and intelligent use of devotional works that 
guide the thoughts of the spiritually minded, 
and enable them to find utterance for much that 
they feel, and yet cannot always satisfactorily 
express. Books such as the " Imitation of 
Christ," or Jeremy Taylor's u Holy Living," 
and " Holy Dying," even though one be not 
altogether in doctrinal sympathy with them, 
may be of immense benefit in spiritual culture, 
supplying as they do the food on which multi- 
tudes have been generously nourished, and af- 
fording additional evidence of the ability of the 
Christian Revelation to do for man what he can- 
not do for himself. 

1 John xiv. 6. 2 Eph. iv. 13. 

7 



98 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

But to "grow in grace," hand in hand with 
piety of thought and observance must go practi- 
cal piety of life. The truths and precepts of 
the Gospel must be applied to every-day affairs. 
Not only must one feel that he should love his 
brother, but he must love him, and do the works 
of love. It is a significant fact that they who 
are the most generous and sympathetic, who are 
most helpful to others, and who take the greatest 
interest in philanthropic undertakings, are, for 
the most part, men and women who both possess 
and, in largest measure, enjoy the life that is 
" from above." That life broadens and deepens 
through glad compliance with the Saviour's 
gentle commands. The more that the happiness 
of others is taken into its account, the more its 
own happiness increases. The more that it 
touches the inner lives of others, and lives with 
and for them, the more its sources of supply are 
multiplied. It is like a river that, fed by an 
unfailing fountain-head, receives, in the course 
of its seaward journey, the waters of an hundred 
tributary streams. Promising as it is to-day, it 
will be more promising to-morrow, and the more 
that it develops, the more it resembles that Per- 
fect Life which is the " Light of Men." l 

1 John i. 4. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 99 

Thus a man is " born from above " that the 
new life with which he is endowed may steadily 
unfold its powers. That life does not at once 
attain unto its fullest possible proportions. 
Saintliness is not an instantaneous gift, but the 
result of orderly processes. 1 Again do we say 
that, like physical life, spiritual life must be 
nourished and trained. It cannot grow without 
food nor thrive without exercise. Dangers ever 
beset it, and it is only by watchfulness and 
culture that it can become " like a tree planted 
by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his 
fruit in his season." 2 

Conclusion. 

Much more might be said of the life u from 
above," and of the truths and duties that it 

1 " A man cannot, after a state of sin, be instantly a saint ; 
the work of heaven is not done by a flash of lightning, or a 
dash of affectionate rain, or a few tears of relenting pity. 
Kemember that God sent you into the world for religion ; we 
are but to pass through our pleasant fields or our hard labors, 
but to lodge a little while in our fair palaces or our meaner cot- 
tages, but to bait in the way at our full tables or with our spare 
diet ; but then only man does his proper employment when he 
prays, and does charity, and mortifies his unruly appetites, and 
restrains his violent passions, and becomes like to God, and 
imitates his holy Son, and writes after the copies of apostles 
and saints." — Jeremy Taylor. 2 Psa. i. 3. 



100 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

involves ; but our limits forbid. Invoking, then, 
the blessing of God upon these pages, and pray- 
ing that any errors they may contain may at 
once be rendered nugatory by that Spirit with- 
out whose aid man's best efforts would prove 
unavailing, we conclude with a few thoughts 
that at this time particularly entreat our 
attention. 

The life " from above " is the only life that 
can forever satisfy beings who have been created 
in the image of their Maker, and endowed with 
immortality. " It is the true life of humanity, 
the life that it has in the Christ, — the real 
head of the human race ; the first Adam is of 
the earth earthy : the second Adam is the Lord 
from heaven.''' 2 Neither life in the body nor 
life in the soul, as the seat of consciousness and 
reason, is an end in itself. It was for life in the 
spirit, or eternal life, that we were called into 
existence, that we might know God and love 
Him, and, loving Him, serve Him forever. As 
long, then, as one fails to appreciate this truth, 
so long does he miss the primal purpose of his 
creation, and live as it were in the ante-room 
of his Father's house, instead of passing within 
i Mulford, "Republic of God," p. 235. 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 101 

to take up his abode in the fair chambers pre- 
pared for him from the beginning. Life in the 
senses may please him for a time, and much 
more, for a time, may he find pleasure in a life 
that is largely intellectual; but these modes of 
life do not contain within themselves the springs 
of abiding peace and joy. The one grows weari- 
some at last, until it may breed unutterable 
loathing ; while the other, baffled in its en- 
deavors to pierce the mysteries of the universe, 
unless it submit to be guided by a wisdom that 
is not born of earth, falls a prey to restlessness 
and doubt, if not to deep, despair. It is only of 
the life " from above" that man can never tire. 
For this life he was made, and apart from it he 
can never know true freedom and happiness. 

Nor should we fail duly to value the thought 
that in the life " from above " we have the 
" potency and promise " of heavenly activity, 
knowledge, and joy. It is a verification of the 
truth of our dear Lord's saying, " He that 
heareth my word, and believeth on Him that 
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not 
come into condemnation, but is passed from 
death unto life," 1 and likewise an assurance that, 

i John y. 24. 



102 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

though we are still pilgrims on earth, something 
of the bliss of departed saints is already ours. 
And feeling that immortality in the higher 
sense is a present possession, and that we have 
an earnest of heavenly blessings, we are further 
made to feel that nothing but the necessary 
limitations of the present prevents us from re- 
joicing in spiritual sights and sounds, which, 
could we see and hear as do they who have 
gone before us into glory, would ravish us with 
ecstasy. Speaking of the organs of physical 
sense, a scientist has recently said that "there 
may be fifty other senses as different from ours 
as sound is from sight," and that "even within 
the boundaries of our own senses there may be 
endless sounds which we cannot hear, and colors 
as different as red from green, of which we have 
no conception." Hence he argues that " the 
familiar world which surrounds us may be a 
totally different place " to the members of the 
animal kingdom. "To them," he continues, 
" it may be full of music which we cannot hear, 
of color which we cannot see, of sensations of 
which we cannot conceive." * Very much so, 
we think, it must be with that other world 
1 Lubbock, " Popular Science Monthly." 



THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 103 

which environs us, and to which the imperish- 
able part of us belongs. What we now behold 
and hear by means of our spiritual faculties is 
prophetic of the surprises that will burst upon 
us, when we shall be w r holly " delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God." a All around 
us smiles an incorporeal beauty the like of which 
we have never seen ; and all around us breathes 
a richer moral music than has ever swept the 
chords of our inner being. With reason may 
we boast that we have only begun to taste " the 
goodness of the Lord " in the true " land of the 
living." 2 The best of everything that enlight- 
ened creatures can desire is still before us ; and 
the devout imagination can never lack for food 
upon which to feed its hunger. 

" If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in 
the Spirit." 3 Realizing who we are, how royally 
we have been favored, and how grand a future 
is beckoning to us from afar, let us strive, with 
the help of Heaven, to grow in the life "from 
above," ever " looking unto Jesus the Author 
and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that 
was set before Him endured the cross, despising 

1 Rom. viii. 21. 2 Psa. xxvii. 13. 3 Gal. v. 25. 



104 THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE. 

the shame, and is set clown at the right hand of 
the throne of God." l 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the love of god, and the communion 
of the Holy Spirit be with us all, 
EVERMORE. Amen. 

1 Heb. xii. 2. 



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